A definitely undoctored picture of a clothed Gyllenhaal. - Getty ImagesEarlier this week, many of you may have seen a picture of Jake Gyllenhaal stretching in his underwear (a la Grace Jones). You probably chuckled, assuming it was a Photoshop job, and then clicked back to your e-mail.
Well, Gyllenhaal was not chuckling. The actor's lawyers are attempting to remove the picture (which you can see here) from the internet entirely, having sent letters requesting as much to sites including Buzzfeed and Queerty.
His lawyers claim, "... as anybody could tell from a cursory examination, this is a fake picture, in which our client's head has been pasted on the body of another person."
They are arguing the photo violates his rights in "portraying him in a false light, violating his right of publicity and constituting a false designation of origin in violation of the Lanham Act."
However, ironically, their effort to eradicate the picture has not only likely caused more people to see the picture, it also has made some of the websites more stubborn about keeping it up.
"We're keeping the photo up, since it hasn't been proven fake and because their letter bumped it from 'funny and cute' to 'actually newsworthy,'" Queerty said.
The Hollywood Reporter notes that Gyllenhaal's team would have to prove that the picture really does damage his reputation, and that he might have to have experts testify "to the value of a market in Gyllenhaal underwear photos being damaged by the appearance of this image."
