Did Budweiser steal from a NYC sketch group for one of its Super Bowl ads?

The comedy troupe The Whitest Kids U’Know claims that the Bud Light ad in which fist bumping is replaced by face slapping as a new kind of greeting looks more than a little similar to a sketch on the group’s Web site called “The New Thing.” The Whitest Kids are consulting with lawyers. Their rep said, “They are very upset. They are considering their options.”

Decide for yourself by watching both clips. [via The Apiary]

At The Whitest Kids site, one member wrote, “Hey! Budweiser just ran an ad during the SuperBowl that is a rip off of our ‘New Thing’ sketch. This has happened to us a couple times before but this one is pretty blatant. So suck it Budweiser. Drink Coors.” Later on, a member of the group says, “There’s more to the Budweiser story than just random coincidence, which we’ll probably post about in the next day or so.”

Some commenters aren’t buying it though: “Relax! my friends and I have been doing something called ‘slap club’ for years (way before your skit). I’m not saying they didn’t see your skit but seriously though, it’s not that original to begin with. I’m sick of people whining everytime something like this happens. Don’t do the, unfortunately, american thing and waste your time complaining or ‘seeing what kind of legal action to take’ but rather put your energy into the thing you love and think of new material.”

What do you think?

Update: Fwiw, the supposed “smoking gun”: “A while back, like in June or so, Budweiser contacted us through WMA [William Morris, their agent] and asked if we were interested in doing a regular show for them on what is I suppose called BudTV. We didn’t respond because we were already working with FUSE but DVDs were sent out anyways.”