Woody Allen v. American Apparel

By Daniel Treiman April 1, 2008

The holy rebbe is pissed.

Last spring, trendy underwear maker American Apparel, known for its sexually charged advertising, put up a pair of billboard ads that were unusually tame.

The billboards, in Los Angeles and New York, featured an image of Woody Allen dressed as a Hasidic Jew from his masterpiece Annie Hall, alongside Yiddish script that read “der heyliker rebe” (“the holy rebbe”). At the time, an American Apparel spokeswoman explained to the Forward, “Woody Allen is our spiritual leader.”

Only one problem: It seems American Apparel didn’t get Woody Allen’s permission first — and so the ads came down as quickly as they went up.

Now, the Associated Press reports, the nebbish-y movie-maker is getting even: He’s filed a $10 million lawsuit in federal court against the edgy shmatte maker.

We’ll have to see how the folks at American Apparel feel about their spiritual leader now.

Hat tip: Brad Greenberg’s God Blog.

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