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According to a Variety report, pop culture legend Bob Dylan has publicly expressed his “regret” for employing machine technology to add duplicate signatures to works of art and books that were sold and represented as being hand-signed over the past three years. In a public statement, Bob Dylan apologised to his followers for the “hand-signed” copies of his new book The Philosophy of Modern Song. The music superstar has said that he used an autopen because he was unable to manually sign the limited-edition run due to a “severe case of vertigo” and Covid protocols.
Dylan made a rare social media post on Friday and wrote, “I’ve been made aware that there’s some controversy about signatures on some of my recent artwork prints and on a limited edition of Philosophy Of Modern Song.” He further added, “I’ve hand-signed each and every art print over the years, and there’s never been a problem.”
Dylan made an attempt to clarify, stating that only since 2019—when he was diagnosed with vertigo—and throughout the pandemic—when he was unable to have staff help him with the hand-signing he had previously done—had autopen signatures been used.
The pop icon said, “However, in 2019 I had a bad case of vertigo and it continued into the pandemic years. It takes a crew of five working in close quarters with me to help enable these signing sessions, and we could not find a safe and workable way to complete what I needed to do while the virus was raging. So, during the pandemic, it was impossible to sign anything and vertigo didn’t help. With contractual deadlines looming, the idea of using an auto-pen was suggested to me, along with the assurance that this kind of thing is done ‘all the time’ in the art and literary worlds.”
Although autopens have been widely used in political circles, celebrities’ use of them has generated more criticism.