Gladys Knight Wants Name & Likeness Removed From Son’s Restaurant

Gladys Knight

Gladys Knight wants nothing to do with her son’s restaurant. This week, the legendary singer asked a judge to remove her name and likeness from her son’s chicken and waffle restaurants. She saying his troubled brand is hurting her reputation.

The suit was filed recently in Atlanta federal court. She also asks that Gladys Knight’s Chicken and Waffles stop using her recipes and memorabilia. The suit reads,

The Restaurants are in free fall and their decline necessarily has the collateral effect of damaging Knight’s Intellectual Property and Knight’s reputation.

As previously reported, in June, her son Shanga Hankerson was arrested, after a Georgia Department of Revenue investigation found that he improperly took taxes that the restaurant collected from customers, according to his arrest warrant.

Shanga Hankerson

According to a report, witnesses told investigators that the money was being used for sex parties and marijuana. Employees went unpaid and said they worked under unhealthy conditions. Restaurant leadership cut corners that led to bad health inspection scores and service.

Knight had considered ending the agreement that let Hankerson use her name as early as 2009 for “what she what she perceived as mismanagement of the Restaurants,” but only decided to move forward this year.

The suit describes the restaurants as “an important tribute to Knight’s storied career,” and complains that they are being run poorly.

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