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A&P v. Workers in $1 M Veggie Video Suit

By Martha Neil

August 28, 2007, 10:41 pm CDT

Two New Jersey brothers apparently meant to be funny when they filmed a gangsta rap parody, “Produce Paradise,” at the A&P supermarket at which they then worked. But management isn’t getting the joke.

The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., which owns A&P, has not only fired the two shelf-stockers over the film but has sued them for defamation, seeking $1 million in damages, reports the Courier-Post.

“In the 4-minute, 16-second video, Mark D’Avella, 22, and Matthew D’Avella, 19, are shown in the Califon supermarket smacking each other in the crotch with beets, standing with bananas sticking out of their boxer shorts and pretending to urinate on produce in a stock room,” the newspaper reports.

Their suggestive and, at least one customer complained, “repulsive acts” involving the supermarket’s vegetables have hurt business, the chain, based in Montvale, N.J., contends. Although the video, which is posted on YouTube, doesn’t specifically mention A&P, it apparently was filmed at the store at which the brothers worked, writes the Associated Press.

The suit was filed in state Superior Court in Flemington.