Beastie Boys sue Chili’s for using the song “Sabotage” in ads

It looks like There was a misunderstanding between Chili’s and the Beastie Boys: The famous hip-hop group filed a lawsuit on Wednesday because it accuses the parent company of the restaurant chain, Brinker International, of using the group’s 1994 classic “Sabotage” to advertise its restaurants.

In the lawsuit, filed in federal court in New York and reviewed by Rolling Stone, The Beastie Boys claim that Brinker began unlawfully using “Sabotage” to promote Chili’s in social media ads starting around November 2022. Aside from the unauthorized use of the song, the complaint states, one of the ads used also bore similarities to the song’s famous music video directed by Spike Jonez, complete with “three characters wearing obvious ’70s-style wigs, fake mustaches, and sunglasses meant to evoke the three members of the Beastie Boys.”

“The use of the sound recording, musical composition and video of ‘Sabotage’ was without permission,” the lawsuit states. “Plaintiffs are not licensing ‘Sabotage’ or their other intellectual property for third-party product advertising purposes, and late Beastie Boys member Adam Yauch included a provision in his will prohibiting such uses.”

The band formally sued Blinker for copyright infringement and is seeking at least $150,000 in damages. A spokesperson for the Beastie Boys and Blinkers did not immediately respond to Rolling StonePlease leave a comment.

The Beastie Boys are one of the most famous hip-hop groups of all time. Three of their albums are in Rolling Stones List of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

As the band explained in their lawsuit, Adam Yauch’s will included a provision prohibiting the use of his music in advertisements. So this isn’t the first time the Beastie Boys have sued a major brand for unauthorized use of music. The band won a $1.7 million judgment against energy drink maker Monster in 2014 for using several of the group’s songs in a promotional video. That same year, the Beastie Boys reached an undisclosed settlement with toy maker GoldieBlox over the use of their song “Girls.”