Strip Club Says Former Miss Oklahoma is Suing for Publicity

John Del Signore

Published Dec 1, 2009

Modified Dec 1, 2009

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John Del Signore

Published Dec 1, 2009

Modified Dec 1, 2009

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Lawyers for a Manhattan strip club say the 22-year-old beauty pageant queen whose photo they appropriated to advertise the club is just suing them to get attention. You may recall that back in April, former Miss Oklahoma Laci Kay Scott filed a lawsuit against Ten's Gentlemen's Club after she discovered that the club had been distributing cards on the street with her image—and without her knowledge. Scott, who's been trying to get her modeling career off the ground with gigs posing in prom dress ads, says being mistakenly perceived as a stripper could disqualify her from the pagaent circuit and damage her career. But Ten's owners think this lawsuit has been just great for her.

"Before this suit was filed, nobody had ever heard of her," a lawyer for Ten's tells the Post. "That's the reality. This is a nobody who filed a claim, a baseless claim, and has brought attention to her nonexistent career." Records show that Scott has made $24,000 from modeling, but it's unclear over what length of time. Speaking to the Daily News, Ten's lawyer argues that nobody would even have known Scott's image was promoting the strip club if she hadn't made such a big stink about it: "The only reason anyone actually knew about it was because of her shameless attempt at self- promotion, getting her name in every possible periodical." (And website!)

But Scott says she had to repeatedly deny her presence on the pole to friends, family and colleagues, who all apparently collect cards from street hawkers advertising strip clubs. And her lawyer tells the Post, "This case is not about Ms. Scott's career. It's about the fact that Ten’s used her photograph without her permission, which is a misdemeanor and a violation of New York's civil rights law ... She's frankly embarrassed to be associated with Ten's." Appearing in court yesterday, attorneys for Ten's blamed the snafu on the printing company, which they say pulled Scott's image off the Internet without their knowledge.

Tagged

flatiron districty

laci kay scott

lawsuit

miss oklahoma

model

nyc

strip club

suing

ten's gentlemen's club

John Del Signore

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Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.

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