(Threatened) Lawsuit of the Day: Chelsea Clinton Sics Dad on Italian Eatery

We met Chelsea Clinton at a wedding once. She wasn’t super-friendly; in fact, she was downright standoffish. She gave off this aloof, “stay away starf**kers” sort of vibe.
Chilly Chelsea couldn’t be more different from her gregarious parents, whom we’ve had the pleasure of meeting. Bill and Hillary Clinton are friendly and down-to-earth, despite being far more recognizable than even their famous daughter.
(Yeah, we know, they’re politicians and she’s an ordinary citizen. But that doesn’t means she can’t be nice to people.)
Based on our firsthand experience with Chelsea Clinton — and it was an overseas wedding, so we were actually in her presence for several days — we weren’t that surprised to read this story. From WCBSTV:

A celebrity photo has led a former president to send a threatening letter to a Manhattan restaurant owner.

President Bill Clinton has demanded that the owner of Greenwich Village restaurant Osso Buco remove a picture of his daughter Chelsea that’s been gracing the walls of the family-style Italian eatery, alongside other celebrity photographs.

Owner Nino Selimaj tells CBS 2 that the picture has been up for years and has never posed a problem until now.

What’s the big deal? Such pictures are commonplace in restaurants of a certain type, and they’re all over the place at Osso Buco — placing Chelsea on notice, when she posed for the photo, that it might be hung on the wall.
More after the jump.


The article continues:

Selimaj says the daughter of the former president and current presidential candidate is just one of his many customers at Osso Buco. But Mr. Clinton says his daughter is a private citizen and he doesn’t want the photograph of her posing with Selimaj hanging in the restaurant.

Mr. Clinton’s Counseler [sic], Douglas J. Band, sent a letter to Selimaj with the demands and even a threat should Selimaj choose to leave the photograph up.

Doug Band’s letter is available here. He writes that “[w]e reserve the right to exercise any and all options available to us if you refuse to comply.”
Thoughts? It strikes us as much ado about nothing — and by complaining about the photo, Chelsea has given it far more attention than it ever would have received. But would any experts on the right of publicity care to chime in?
Bill Clinton, Eatery At Odds Over Chelsea Photo [wcbstv.com]
Clinton In Restaurant Row [The Smoking Gun]

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