Olympic ice-skating champion Oksana Baiul has filed a $5 million lawsuit that claims NBC Universal and a skating promoter falsely used her image to promote two televised shows in 2011 and 2012 after she declined to perform.
Baiul, 35, a star of the 1994 Winter Olympics, cited ads and other material featuring her in the Manhattan Supreme Court suit.
Promoter Stephen Disson denied her claims, saying she approached him through an agent in mid-2011 and asked to be included in the shows, then backed out within weeks after he agreed — well before he started ads for them.
“We never announced Oksana in either show or featured her in any of our advertising or promotional materials,” Disson said.
NBC Universal had no comment.