Suite Life's Brenda Song Cries Foul

Disney Channel star Brenda Song sues escort company for using her picture in one of its ads

By Natalie Finn Apr 25, 2008 11:00 PMTags
Brenda SongKevin Mazur/WireImage.com
What kind of Mickey Mouse operation is this?

Disney Channel star Brenda Song has filed a libel suit against a company claiming it used her photo in a newspaper advertisement touting its escort service without her permission.

The ad, printed in the April 4 and 18 (and possibly other) editions of L.A. Weekly, features a picture of the 20-year-old Song imposed with the name "Layla," a telephone number and the slogan, "Hawaiin [sic] beauty. Come get lei'd."

Per the complaint, escort site Cityvibe.com, parent company Vibe Media Inc. and owner Ali Askari, who has not yet responded to the suit, "illegally and shamelessly" lifted her image to peddle "what is undoubtedly a thinly disguised...enterprise."

"As a role model to millions of young people, I feel I have to take a stand against this company in regard to its exploitation of my image," Song, a regular on the the tween-favorite sitcom The Suite Life of Zack & Cody who will be seen later this year on the cruise-ship-set spinoff The Suite Life on Deck, said in a statement Friday.

"In filing this lawsuit, I hope to prevent this company from doing this again to anyone else."

According to the suit, her attorney found out just what the company does when he called the number listed in the ad and was promised a meeting with the girl in the picture that evening. (For the record, he immediately hung up.)

Song, who also recently appeared in the film College Road Trip with Martin Lawrence and Raven-Symoné is seeking at least $100,000 in damages.