Beastie Boys ended a legal dispute with Chili’s after accusing the restaurant chain of using their 1994 hit “Sabotage” in a social media ad without permission.
According to court documents, the Hip-Hop pioneers and Universal Music Group reached confidential settlements with Chili’s parent company, Brinker International, following a mediation session held two weeks prior. The lawsuits alleged that Chili’s ran ads on TikTok, Instagram and other platforms using copyrighted music without securing the necessary synchronization licenses.
The Beastie Boys specifically claimed that Brinker lifted both the sound and style of their “Sabotage” video for a Chili’s promo that featured three men in retro wigs staging a mock heist of food ingredients—an unmistakable nod to the group’s iconic video featuring Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz, Michael “Mike D” Diamond and the late Adam “MCA” Yauch. The legal filings did not disclose how much Chili’s may have paid in the settlements or whether any formal licensing agreements were established moving forward.