Turkish butcher and restauranteur Nusret Gökçe rose to the pinnacle of fame with his status of ‘Salt Bae’. But seems like he will be facing some legal trouble soon, since he will now battle a $5 million lawsuit for copyright infringement.
The fiasco stems from an American artist who claims that Gökçe used his artwork without permission. The artwork in question is an illustration of him in his signature salt-sprinkling pose.
Brooklyn artist Logan Hicks and fellow artist Joseph Iurato were hired by Gökçe to create a mural of him but then used that same artwork at his restaurants, replicating it across the world.
The magnificent mural was painted at Gökçe’s Miami steakhouse and later appeared at the chef’s Dubai, Doha, Istanbul and New York.
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Soon, Hicks found out that Gökçe had used the same painting without permission on window displays, on menus, takeout bags, wet wipe packaging, digital signs and the label for Salt Bae’s line of seasoning.
Later, the artist reportedly sent a cease-and-desist letter demanding that they stop using the original artworks in April 2020. But Gökçe and the companies “doubled down on their already widespread infringement, expanding their willful use of the Infringing Materials to locations in Doha, D Maris Bay (Turkey), Boston, Dallas and several additional locations in Istanbul,” the suit claims.
Turkish chef Nusret Gokce claim to fame was his viral videos that started circulating back in 2017. His peculiar way of sprinkling salt on a steak went viral on Instagram as his effortless style was admired by the fans.
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