Axl Rose is attempting to have an unflattering picture of him removed from the internet.

The image was taken in 2010 by photographer Boris Minkevich at a Guns N’ Roses show at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Canada, and has been widely used as an internet meme making fun of the vocalist’s bloated appearance.

The memes mainly centre on Rose’s hiring by AC/DC as a guest singer, replacing Brian Johnson who was ordered to stop touring or risk going deaf.

TorrentFreak report that Rose has filed a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) notice, asking Google and other web firms to remove the photo from the web entirely.

The DMCA complaint sent to Google reads: “Copyright image of Axl Rose. Please be advised that no permission has been granted to publish the copyright image so we cannot direct you to an authorised example of it.”

Although the photo was taken by Minkevich, Rose claims that he owns the copyright because he gets photographers to sign over copyright control of all images at all of his shows.

Asked by TorrentFreak whether he remembers signing such an agreement at the gig in question, Minkevich says he cannot recall. He adds that he had no idea Rose was “trying to cleanse the web” of the photograph.

As it stands, the image is still widely available online. According to Lumen, internet copyright authority Web Sheriff has issued more than 134,000 takedown orders in relation to pictures of Axl Rose online.

Jun 09: Manchester Etihad Stadium, UK

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Guns N’ Roses Not In This Lifetime Tour 2016

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