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Woody Allen settles with American Apparel's Dov Charney for $5 million

By April MacIntyre May 18, 2009, 22:32 GMT

Two unusual characters in their respective fields faced off in court, with director Woody Allen settling his lawsuit with counter-culture CEO Dov Charney's American Apparel for $5 million. Victorious Woody Allen -

Victorious Woody Allen - "I am told the settlement of five million dollars I am being paid is the largest reported amount ever paid under the New York right to privacy law," Allen said outside Manhattan federal court, reported Reuters. © Janet Mayer / PR Photos"I am told the settlement of five million dollars I am being paid is the largest reported amount ever paid under the New York right to privacy law," Allen said outside Manhattan federal court, reported Reuters.American Apparel founder Dov Charney told reporters the case was about "the dignity of ideas." He continued: "I am not sorry for expressing myself."Allen originally sued American Apparel last year for $10 million, over a 2007 advertising campaign which had Allen's likeness as a Hasidic Jew along with Yiddish text meaning "the holy rebbe" in the graphics.American Apparel is headed by Charney, who could be described as an eccentric corporate chief.Charney has been under fire for his questionable adverts and his sexualized corporate culture which some say encourages attractive female staff to sleep with him.Charney feels free to engage in consensual sexual relationships with his staff. "I've had relationships, loving relationships, that I'm proud of," he told BusinessWeek in a 2005 interview. "I think it's a First Amendment right to pursue one's affection for another human being."He has been sued by three former American Apparel employees (women) who according to BusinessWeek, claimed they were sexually harassed by him at work. Despite the negative press, Charney has fostered a rare commodity in American textile manufacturing, his "sweatshop-free" environment that pays his mostly Latino factory workers twice the minimum wage, with health insurance, subsidized lunches, and paid time off to take English classes on the premises, according to his BusinessWeek profile.Charney is also the main marketing guru for his company, and reportedly takes photos of company employees, himself and odd people off the street for his ad campaigns.BusinessWeek detailed the nature of the sexual harassment lawsuits against Charney, and further reported that the magazine Jane had one of their reporters witness Charney engaging in oral sex with a female employee and masturbating in front of the Jane reporter. The magazine claimed that "Charney doesn't deny taking part in any of the activities described in the article. He says he befriended the writer over the course of the two months it took her to research the piece. 'I've never done anything sexual that wasn't consensual,' Charney says. The reporter, Claudine Ko, confirmed his take on events to BusinessWeek."BusinessWeek spoke with former workers fed up with the favoritism shown by sexual congress with the American Apparel bosses. "It was a company built on lechery," says a former stock person. "I thought it was a male contemporary perspective on feminism, but it turns out to be just a gimmick," says another ex-employee. And another: "I made sure to stay away from the store when I knew [Charney] was coming into town. It's not one person -- he's aiming for all women."