Catherine Zeta-Jones should be flattered that her image was usedfor advertising and promotion on the web site of a Nevada toplessclub, a spokesman for the club said.
Jones is suing The Spice House, which bills itself as “Reno’sfriendliest topless cabaret,” and its owner, Wesglow Resources, fordisplaying her picture on “numerous pages” of its web site withouther permission, according a lawsuit filed last week in U.S DistrictCourt in Los Angeles.
Sometimes her image was shown alongside partially nude women,and created the false impression the actress “endorsed or approvedof the sexually explicit content” and could “dilute the value ofher celebrity endorsement,” the lawsuit says.
Jones, who won a best-supporting actress Oscar for 2002’s”Chicago,” seeks unspecified damages and an order barring furtheruse of her likeness.
A designer for the club’s web site downloaded pictures of Jonesfrom a German web site that offered “royalty-free graphics,” saidKent Wallace, the club’s marketing director.
“It was an image of a beautiful woman,” Wallace said.
“We had no idea it was Catherine Zeta-Jones; one wouldn’t think(her image) would appear in a free graphics web site.”
“She should have been flattered, as far as I’m concerned,”Wallace said Monday.
Wallace said the club immediately took down Jones’ images whenit was contacted by her lawyer, and called the lawsuit “frivolous.”He said the club hasn’t retained a lawyer yet but that it plannedto ask a judge to dismiss the lawsuit. – AP
Ol’ gay Paris
The launch of France’s first gay television channel, Pink TV,has been touted as a big step for television in this largely RomanCatholic country.
French front pages heralded the launch for days, with Paristabloid Le Parisien carrying “The Gay Tide” as a banner headlineMonday over a photo of a rainbow flag.
A pair of pink stilettos graced the front page of the weekend’sLiberation newspaper, which endorsed the channel in an editorialtitled, “Good One.”
The editorial, like Pink’s founders, says the channel’s arrivalshows the time is ripe for such a venture in France, which is attimes surprisingly conservative and still divided overhomosexuality.
The channel is “a giant leap for television, a small step inhigh heels,” presenter Eric Gueho says in a promotional clip.
Available on cable and satellite television, the channel islargely financed by France’s three main commercial networks. -AP
Aside from daily doses of “Wonder Woman” and Japanese “manga”cartoons, Pink plans to broadcast movies, documentaries, musicprograms and debates on issues such as gay parenthood andhomophobia.
There will be series including “Queer as Folk,” and X-ratedfilms four nights a week after midnight.
That Pink aims to be an eye-opener is apparent in one of itsadvertisements showing a famous 1984 photograph of then-FrenchPresident Francois Mitterrand holding hands with ex-German leaderHelmut Kohl.
“A relationship is about more than just sex,” says theadvertisement. The image comes from a historic ceremony ofFranco-German reconciliation to commemorate World War I at the siteof the bloody battle of Verdun.