The Beastie Boys sued Chili’s restaurant for allegedly using their smash hit, “Sabotage,” in their advertisements without consent.
The legendary band filed their lawsuit in federal court July 10 and named Brinker International, the restaurant chain’s parent company, for two counts of copyright infringement, according to People. The court documents allege Chili’s used the group’s 1994 hit song in video advertisements dating back to 2022, which they claim infringes the band’s ownership of the song, which is registered with the United States Copyright Office, according to People.
The Beastie Boys request no “less than $150,000 for the willful infringement” of their music and the court documents noted they will call for a trial by jury if necessary, according to People.
The famous group alleges unauthorized use of their song as well as Brinker’s reproduction of the Sabotage music video, directed by Spike Jonze. The documents alleged the restaurant’s advertisement feature characters that are dressed up very similarly to how the Beastie Boys dressed in the music video for the song. They claimed the ads featured “three characters wearing obvious ’70s-style wigs, fake mustaches, and sunglasses who were intended to evoke the three members of Beastie Boys,” according to People.
Portrait of members of American Rap group Beastie Boys as they pose in front of a mural (by Keith Haring), 1987. Pictured are, from left, Mike D (born Michael Diamond), MCA (born Adam Yauch, 1964 – 2012), and Ad-Rock (born Adam Horovitz). (Photo by Lynn Goldsmith/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)
The advertisement centers around the characters as they rob ingredients from a Chili’s restaurant. The suit claimed the video was “intercut with fictitious opening credits, in ways obviously similar to and intended to evoke in the minds of the public scenes from Plaintiff’s well-known official ‘Sabotage’ video,” according to People. (RELATED: Cher Wins Copyright Lawsuit Against Ex-Husband’s Widow)
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The Beastie Boys consists of Michael Diamond, Adam Horovitz and the late Adam Yauch.
