Pink sings about girl power with an exclamation point — but a Manhattan woman who tried to emulate the Grammy winner is getting bullied by a Long Island man who claims she was too old, ugly and untalented to portray the pop star in his Pink tribute band.
Collette McLafferty, a 40-year-old singer, has been slapped with a $10 million lawsuit by Charles Bonfante, who whines that her lack of sex appeal and talent ruined his big plan to start Long Island’s first Pink cover act.
“The really insulting part is he said I would harm the public because I can’t sing and I’m too unattractive to front this kind of a band,” she told The Post. “I don’t think it’s his place to tell anyone that they’re not good looking enough to follow their dreams.”
Bonfante — a lawyer who brags at length in his suit about drumming on tour for Michael Bolton and in the second-tier ’80s glam-metal band Saraya — says in his Suffolk County suit that McLafferty and the other band members are “subpar” musicians whom he never wanted in the act.
“McLafferty was a mediocre vocalist at best . . . She had pitch problems, oftentimes singing flat for extended periods of time,” the suit says.
And as for her look, he claimed: “She didn’t look the part, or at least contribute to the overall aesthetics of the band.”
He told his collaborator, Rik Nevone, he did not want her in the act.
But when Nevone went ahead with her at a small gig on Long Island under the name Funhouse — after Pink’s fifth album — Bonfante filed the suit against the members of the act for allegedly ruining his Pink band scheme.
McLafferty — who lives on the Lower East Side and fronts a band called edibleRed — says she never heard of Bonfante before the suit.
Making matters worse, McLafferty was paid only $75 for the gig that now has her facing humiliation and huge legal bills.
“I get to fight this for the next two years, according to my lawyer,” she said. “I’m going to be broke, and he’s going to have a hobby.”
She has filed a countersuit, seeking to have Bonfante’s claim quashed and recoup damages.
And she thinks Pink would be as offended by the suit as she is.
“I think her advice would be to stay strong, not to slink back and not let anyone bully you.”
Pink’s camp declined comment.
Additional reporting by Tom Wilson