New York City rap icons Beastie Boys have filed a lawsuit against the parent company of Chili’s Grill & Bar for copyright infringement and violating the rap group’s trademark rights over a commercial for the chain that resembles their iconic 1994 “Sabotage” music video.
The suit, filed against Brinker International in a New York Federal Court on Wednesday, was brought by Michael Diamond (Mike D to fans), Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock, and Dechen Yauch as executor of the estate of the late Adam Yauch (MCA), who died of parotid cancer in 2012. The complaint asserts that significant portions of the musical composition and sound recording of “Sabotage” were used without permission for the unauthorized Chili’s video, “in which three characters wearing obvious ’70s-style wigs, fake mustaches and sunglasses who were intended to evoke the three members of Beastie Boys performed scenes depicting them “robbing” ingredients from a Chili’s “restaurant.”
In the 2022 Chili’s ad spot, this was all intercut with fictitious opening credits just like the beloved Spike Jonze-directed video, “in ways similar to and intended to evoke in the minds of the public scenes from the well-known video,” the suit claims. The lawsuit states that using the sound recording, music composition and video were all done without permission.
“The plaintiffs do not license ‘Sabotage’ or any of their other intellectual property for third-party product advertising purposes, and deceased Beastie Boys member Adam Yauch included a provision in his will prohibiting such uses,” the complaint reads.
The ad infringes on the Beastie Boys’ “distinctive music and performing style as well as products designed and/or created by the [Beastie Boys] partnership, and the wide geographic distribution and extensive sale of various products distributed under the Beastie Boys Marks,” which the suit states “have acquired secondary meaning, fame and significance in the minds of the purchasing public.”
Diamond, Horowitz and Yauch are asking for the Chili’s ad to be removed everywhere by Brinker International and are seeking $150,000 in damages, plus attorney’s fees.
An email seeking comment sent by The Hollywood Reporter on Friday afternoon did not receive an immediate response.
