Jim Belushi has sued a Chicago comedy club's general manager for defamation, saying she bad-mouthed him to other comedians and cost him two comics who had been set to perform at his own club.
Belushi says in his suit, filed Thursday in Cook County Circuit Court, that he is sole owner of Bessie Bl LLC, a comedy club that also licenses the trademark "Belushi’s Comedy Bar" to other clubs.
He says was in talks to license the name to Kyle Lane, who owns The Comedy Club in Chicago, back in the fall of 2014. The talks fell through in January, but according to the suit, Lane’s general manager launched "a public campaign to malign" his reputation with comics, vendors and associates nationwide.
Belushi's suit accuses the general manager, Sahar Chavoshi, of telling other comics that he is a liar and fraud, and that he was actively trying to remove Lane from his own comedy club so he could take it over.
Belushi says he lost at least two comics who were scheduled to perform at his comedy club because of Chavoshi’s comments. He says Chavoshi admitted to him that she'd spoken negatively about him.
Chavoshi is the sole defendant in the one-count defamation suit, which seeks more than $50,000 in damages.
Belushi, who resides in Los Angeles, was the star of “According to Jim,” a comedy sitcom set in Chicago that ran for eight seasons.
Local
Neither Chavoshi nor Belushi could not be reached for comment late Thursday afternoon.
