She got catcalled more than 100 times in a viral video of her walking around New York City for 10 hours but says all she earned from her starring role was $200.
Shoshana Roberts is suing the producers of the “Ten Hours of Walking In NYC as a Woman” video, seeking $500,000 for her performance in the piece. She has named director Rob Bliss and advocacy group Hollaback!, which produced the clip.
Neither Bliss nor Hollaback! immediately responded to requests for comments on the lawsuit Wednesday.
The video, which was viewed over 40 million times, led to a debate on the subject of street harassment and even a parody video from Funny or Die. The video debuted on Oct. 28, 2014.
Roberts also names Google, YouTube and TGI Friday’s (which also made a parody ad of the video) in the lawsuit filed on Tuesday.
She claims the defendants used her “creative content, performance, image likeness” for advertising without her consent. She claims the defendants profited from the video and violated her civil rights, while she earned a mere $200 for the video, the Daily News reports.
Following the release of the video, she received a series of rape threats.
Roberts told The Village Voice in May that it was “frustrating when the nonprofit gets the donations, and the director gets ad revenue, and I get people wanting to slit my throat.”
