Playboy won’t pull its March issue over actress Jessica Alba’s claim that she was made an unwitting cover girl to fool readers into thinking she is nude inside, the magazine said Friday.
“Playboy has done nothing wrong, so there is no reason to pull our issue off of newsstands,” spokeswoman Lauren Melone said.
Alba accuses Playboy of violating her rights and misleading the public by getting a publicity photo from her 2005 movie “Into the Blue” from Sony Pictures and running it on the cover — complete with a bunny logo superimposed on her bikini top.
Lawyers for Alba, 24, have threatened to sue Playboy unless the issue was pulled off the stands and demanded that the ”Fantastic Four” star be compensated for damage to her image.
They also accuse Playboy of duping Sony Pictures into supplying a photo of the Golden Globe-nominated actress, wearing a multicolored bikini and sporting a belly ring, for the cover.
Playboy said Alba was placed on the cover after being chosen “sexiest star of the year” by its readers. She was included inside the magazine in an article on the top 25 sexiest celebrities as chosen in an online poll.
The magazine added that celebrities routinely grace its cover without appearing naked inside.