Saturday, July 17, 2010

Vampires attract cash-hungry model

Ann Kirsten Kennis. The name might be unfamiliar, but the face won't be.

This is her:

She's unhappy, as she claims that her appearance on the sleeve of Vampire Weekend's Contra was without her knowledge or permission.

Surely, you say, given that she's a model, she must have had a good idea that her picture would be used on things that pictures appear on? Isn't that her job? And wouldn't she have signed a release form?

She's ahead of you:

She also claims someone forged her signature on a release form.

Naturally, being America, she's decided that she needs to sue as only money can overcome the horror for a model of people looking at a photo of her. And, to be fair, if the picture was used against the rules, there is a small case to answer. So what are we talking - a few hundred dollars?

She's asking for two million dollars.

Two million dollars for being on an alt-rock CD sleeve? If that's what she thinks the pricing scale would suggest, it's perhaps no surprise she's not a famous model - "a shoot for a catalogue? Why, yes, I'd be delighted - that's going to be ten million pounds a day. Hello? Hello?"