Vegas strippers’ gloves come off in court war between clubs Spearmint Rhino and Peppermint Hippo
These Vegas strip clubs are pulling out their big guns!
Jiggle joint Spearmint Rhino has been at the top of the topless food chain in Sin City for decades. And now it’s suing a newcomer that’s given itself a name that’s cheekier than a pair of assless chaps: Peppermint Hippo.
According to court papers obtained by Page Six, Peppermint CEO Alan Chang worked at Spearmint from 2007 until 2014.
Then in 2019 he founded the rival adult entertainment complex with the suspiciously similar name, which features a sexy show as well as a speakeasy, a podcast studio and food truck called Hungry Hippo.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Spearmint says that Chang’s place undie-mines its brand.
Spearmint claims its used the name Spearmint Rhino, “continuously since October 15, 1992 for adult cabaret services,” and that the Spearmint Rhino trademarks, “are famous and recognized around the world and throughout the United States as signifying high quality venues for adult entertainment services.”
Chang’s Peppermint Hippo trademarks, it claims in court papers, “impair the distinctiveness and cause dilution by blurring of, and hereby damage” their famous horny beast.
The newbie Peppermint Hippo has made a name for its itself and amassed an impressive celeb clientele list that includes Mike Tyson, Usher, Nick Diaz and Odell Beckham Jr. since it debuted five years ago.
The older club naturally has its share of celebs who frequent the spot when they hit the Vegas strip.
Beckham Jr. (ahem, again), for example, was reportedly spotted at the Sin City club with Kim Kardashian in February.
Spearmint is asking for a trial by jury.
But Chang is demanding the case be thrown out. (Trust strippers to want to see a flimsy suit get tossed!)
Chang says that he — unlike his staff’s lingerie — won’t go down easily.
“The strip club war is on!” he told Page Six in a statement on Tuesday. “We won’t let this ridiculous lawsuit discredit us. In the wild, hippos and rhinos coexist. Why not Vegas?”