PHILADELPHIA - “Good Day Philadelphia” anchor Karen Hepp has taken issue with social sites like Facebook and Reddit for allegedly broadcasting an image taken without her knowledge on several commercial websites, including one on an ad for erectile dysfunction.
Hepp sued Facebook, IMGUR, Reddit, Giphy, WGCZ S.R.O. and the owners of various websites and media outlets, named in the lawsuit as Does 1-10, for more than $10 million. She filed her complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Hepp demanded a jury trial as she called out the defendants for allegedly violating Pennsylvania’s Right of Publicity statute.
She alleged that her co-workers informed her two years ago that a security camera caught a snapshot of her in a New York City convenience store. That photo is said to have been used in online ads for erectile dysfunction as well as dating websites and other avenues, according to the lawsuit.
The picture was also included in a Facebook ad that implored users to “meet and chat with single women,” based on the complaint. Imgur allegedly posted the photo with the word “milf,” an inappropriate term related to attractive women with kids.
Reddit allegedly featured the photo in a subgroup called r/obsf.
Hepp also alleged, “The photo was modified and featured on Giphy wherein a video appears in the background of a man – who is hiding behind a glass commercial freezer door and masturbating – to what would appear, from his perspective, to the backside of the plaintiff.”
Lastly, the picture also made its rounds on XNXX in the “milf” gallery.
Hepp asked the court to bar the defendants and their related entities from publishing the photo, and to make them remove the ones that are currently present on their sites. She also wants the defendants to have to show how much money they made from using her image.
While she said the dollar amount of damages has yet to be determined, she requested an award of more than $10 million.
She also wants her lawyers’ fees and other related costs taken care of.
She’s being represented by Samuel B. Fineman, Esq.