“Star Trek” actor LeVar Burton, who played the blind commander Geordi La Forge, slapped a Manhattan-based p.r. firm with a $50,000 lawsuit for using his image after he fired the company for bungling an ad job.
The Emmy-nominated California actor also played Kunte Kinta in the ABC series “Roots” and hosted the kids’ TV program “Reading Rainbow” for 25 years.
Burton had hired Child’s Play Communications in November 2011 to promote a “Reading Rainbow” app for the iPad.
The “app encourages children to read and features audio storytelling by Burton and other celebrity actors,” according to the Manhattan civil suit.
Burton claims the company charged $10,000 a month and botched the job.
“Child’s Play Communications failed to provide adequate p.r. services, forcing the staff at Burton’s company to personally take on most of CPS’s duties and to ultimately seek alternative p.r. representation,” Burton said in court papers.
Philip Semprevivo, the ad firm’s attorney, said he had not yet been served with the lawsuit.
Despite the alleged failure the app has been widely successful within its first year on the market, with readers accessing over 1.5 million titles.
The marketing company sued over the broken contract last year, and Burton counter-sued for trademark infringement for using the “Reading Rainbow” logo on its website. That case is still pending.
In February “Burton discovered that his name and picture were being used on the homepage of CPC’s website to promote and advertise the sale of [its] PR services.”
Burton notes that “he only gives endorsements for children’s educational products.”