NEW YORK — The national restaurant chain Chili’s used a Beastie Boys song in an advertisement and now the renowned rap group is making some noise about it.
Billboard reports the group is suing Chili’s parent company, Brinker International Inc., saying it used the group’s 1994 hit “Sabotage” in a social media ad without permission. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan, Billboard reports.
The lawsuit claims the ads also used images similar to the video from the song, in which band members Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz, Adam “MCA” Yauch and Michael “Mike D” Diamond imitate a 1970s-style TV police drama, Variety reports.
The lawsuit accuses Brinker, which reportedly owns 30 locations in New York, of creating a Chili’s social media ad in 2022 that used parts of the song alongside a video of three people wearing 1970′s-style disguises stealing ingredients from a Chili’s restaurant.
The case was filed by Horovitz and Diamond, the surviving members of the band, along with the executor of Yauch’s estate. Billboard reports the lawsuit says that Yauch’s will includes a provision prohibiting the use of the band’s music in advertisements.
This is not the first time the band has gone to court over unauthorized use of its music. Billboard reports that in 2013 the band sued a toy company called GoldieBlox after it used the song “Girls.” The company reportedly apologized and made a donation to charity as part of a settlement.
In 2015, Monster Energy drink paid a $1.7 million settlement for using several of the band’s songs in a promotional video.
(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)