By Danielle Beavers
One of our favorite Times Square neighbors might soon be the millionaire next door.
A Manhattan judge has allowed the Naked Cowboy (yeah, he has a name: Robert Burck), to continue with his $6 million lawsuit against Mars Inc. filed in February. The scantily clad singing sensation claims an M&Ms ad unfairly gave the impression that the Naked Cowboy endorsed the product. The offending ad is actually an animated billboard in Times Square (sacred Cowboy turf for almost a decade), which depicts a blue M&M wearing a white cowboy hat, cowboy boots and underpants while strumming a familiar-looking white guitar.
The candy company says the image was only a parody, and is thus protected under the First Amendment. Burck, of course, disagrees and is suing Mars Inc., as well as Chute Gerdeman Inc., the agency that created the ad.
So what will the Naked Cowboy with do with his potential millions? Add some sparkly diamonds to his underwear? Buy pants? Record another album? We hope the latter is true — we had a good time hanging out with him in the studio last time.
Does the Cowboy have his tighty-whities in a wad over nothing, or does he deserve a bit of M&M cash? Tell us what you think!
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