Celebrities Sue Planet Hollywood to Cut Ties with All Star Cafes

ORLANDO-Top athletes dislike being associated with losers, even if they happen to be restaurant chains such as All Star Café. Golfer Tiger Woods, tennis stars Monica Seles and Andre Agassi, and football legend Joe Montana are suing locally-based Planet Hollywood International Inc. to have their photos and memorabilia removed from the menus and walls of the All Star Café chain being phased out nationally. Planet Hollywood owns the All Star Cafés.

The athletes’ suit in U.S. District Court in Delaware also seeks unspecified money damages of at least $75,000 each for not having been included in Planet Hollywood’s bankruptcy reorganization plan under Chapter 11 earlier this year.

Planet Hollywood chairman/CEO Robert Earl says the shoes, shirts and other items will be returned to the athletes when the lawsuit is resolved. British-born Earl is not contesting the celebrities’ claim to their possessions. The menu deletions will also be made but may be a moot point since only three All Star Cafés are currently operating.

They are two company-owned sites in Myrtle Beach, S.C. and south Miami Beach; and a restaurant owned by Walt Disney World at its Lake Buena Vista, FL theme park. The All Star Cafes are being sold after sales projections were not met. The Miami Beach All Star Café is expected to be converted to a conventional Planet Hollywood restaurant, similar to the conversion of the All Star property in New York.

Earl did not ask Woods, Seles, Agassi and Montana to promote the reorganized Planet Hollywood restaurants in exchange for receiving an unspecified amount of company stock. But Los Angeles Lakers’ Shaquille O’Neal, formerly with Orlando Magic and also an All Star Café booster, will be lending his name and presence to new Planet Hollywood restaurant openings.