Restaurant receives cease-and-desist order from BBC after disappointing ‘Bluey’ event

LAS VEGAS (KVVU/Gray News) – After outrage emerged over a now-viral “Bluey”-themed event, the restaurant that hosted the event has received a cease-and-desist order for featuring the iconic children’s character.

Dirt Dogs promised to host a “makeup event” after parents said their children were distraught over the amateur mascot featured in the original event.

More than 3,000 people showed up to the Bluey event, which was far more than the few dozen the restaurant had anticipated.

Once inside the crowded restaurant, families encountered amateur costumes, homemade treats and face painting from a restaurant staff member.

The person in a Bluey costume looked nothing like what children expected.

“I was mad. He looked unexpected,” said Sophia, a child who attended the event. “We could see his beard.”

Sophia’s mom Stephanie Hernandez was just as upset as her daughter.

“The kids were distraught. Some kids were crying,” Hernandez said. “How could you do that to little kids – advertise something so fun and eventful for kids ranging from toddlers to 6, and 7 years old, and not actually follow through with it? It was a very upsetting moment to see so many kids, especially my daughter, just really upset.”

The restaurant planned on hosting a re-do of the event to meet expectations, but they since have gotten a cease-and-desist order.

The order, which comes from Bluey’s exclusive licensee BBC Studios, said the unauthorized event is “likely to cause confusion and harm BBC Studios, Ludo Studio, and the ‘Bluey’ franchise.”

“BBC Studios has learned from press reports that you held a prior BLUEY DAY event that ‘descended into chaos’ with crying children and disappointed parents,” the lawsuit states, citing KVVU′s previous reporting on the event.

The lawsuit continues, “To prevent all further harm, BBC Studios demands that you cancel all planned BLUEY DAY events and that you immediately and permanently cease offering any services or products in connection with or that use in any way the BLUEY mark, any confusingly similar variations thereof, and/or any images of characters that are the exclusive intellectual property of Ludo Studio.”

Dirt Dogs provided the following statement to KVVU in response to the order:

“With a heavy heart, we have to announce that we can no longer host a Bluey event for our community, the staff from Las Vegas to Los Angeles are completely disappointed with this news. We only had the purest intentions to give back to those around us. We sincerely hope the Vegas community will forgive us and continue to support us as we are still pushing forward in our community involvement. We will continue to host more family events to give back to the families that continue to support us. We will be hosting our Farmers Market for our local entrepreneurs on June 29, 2024, including a coloring station for kids, carnival games, free slushies and so much more. We hope everyone affected by the previous event will come out and support small businesses in our community.”

Dirt Dogs also said that a new “family day” event will happen on June 29 and feature a different mascot. The event will include free slushies, face painting, and carnival games.