Artists are artists. World renowned or not. That's like me writing a riff. You can practice it, but not claim it. The point is, there's a line drawn to where one would have to say something. If you claimed you made it, then there's a problem. If you're tracing or anything just to practice, and again, show the original and say, "hey, I traced this," then what's the angle? To what part can you get mad at? He's denied all originality and shown proof that he traced it. The fact this whole argument was brought up is a little redundant, yeah?