Eyz Wide Shut, which is apparently Tampa’s premiere swingers club, regularly advertises theme nights on their website. Usually, the ads for “Threesome Thursday” or “Horny Girls Weekend” feature young, barely-dressed women to entice curious couples to try out their wild side.
Of course, you don’t really think the particular woman on the flier will be enjoying the pleasures of the Brandon sex club, do you? Twenty models who appeared in those ads don’t think that matters.
On Thursday, a Miami attorney representing the models filed a federal lawsuit in Tampa against the club, claiming the advertisements “exploited” the women.
One flier cited in the lawsuit features a sexy picture of one of the plaintiffs with the caption: “Cum fulfill your temptations tonight.” Another shows a plaintiff’s busty photo with the heading “Let’s get Lucky-Let’s get Laid.”
Other fliers, posted on their website and Facebook page, give the impression the models work at the club or appear on theme nights, the suit claims.
The complaint states the club “defamed and embarrassed” the models by associating their pictures with the swinging lifestyle.
The models are seeking unknown compensation for damage to their brands.
The plaintiffs include Amber Lancaster, a former Seattle Seahawks cheerleader and actor; lingerie model Brittany Cripliver; FHM and Maxim model Brooke Taylor Johnson; sports magazine model Cielo Jean Gibson; Katarina Van Derham, who has appeared on CSI: Miami and Entourage; New Zealand model Gemma Lee Farrell; calendar girl Heather Rae Young; Playboy model Tiffany Toth; Jesse Golden, who has her own yoga clothing line; and Joanna Krupa, who appeared as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars and as a cast member for the Real Housewives of Miami.
“Defendant’s use of Krupa’s image in connection with [an] Eyz Wide shut event impugns Krupa’s character, embarrasses her, and suggests – falsely – her support for and participation in a swinger’s lifestyle,” the complaint says.
Andrew Harrow, who owns Eyz Wide Shut with his wife, is also listed individually as a defendant in the suit.
“It’s just another scam by lawyers to hurt small businesses,” Harrow told CL by phone. “There was no benefit to Eyz Wide Shut whatsoever.”
Harrow says he uses an outside graphics artist for the fliers.
“I wouldn’t even know who [the models] were,” he says, adding the ads did not use names or allege they were stopping into the club.
The lawsuit is the latest of such grievances targeting adult-themed businesses in Tampa Bay. The Miami-based Casas Law Firm has hit more than a dozen area strip clubs with similar suits and hundreds of others across the country. Many feature the same B-list models, though one local strip club purportedly used a picture of Carmen Electra and Caliente allegedly promoted their nudist resort with a photo of Jaime Faith Edmundson, a model who is married to Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan Longoria. (Sarah Cabarcas-Osman, one of the attorneys who filed this lawsuit and several others, declined to comment.)
The lawsuits seem to be working. In a just a cursory glance at recent fliers and Facebook pages, area strip clubs are swapping the models for more nuanced, less-sexy designs.
