the yellow pages filed a massage therapist under "nude gay massage." a federal judge says she can sue. we have notes on "russian."

via the court's opinion, the New York Law Journal and PPC Land

In February 2025 a licensed massage therapist in Newburgh, New York, googled herself and found her business on Yellowpages.com under three phrases: "Russian Massage in Newburgh, NY," "Nude Gay Massage in Newburgh, NY," and "Exotic Massage in Newburgh, NY."

She is none of those things, professionally speaking. She says she asked to have the listing fixed or taken down, that it stayed up, and in December 2025 she sued Thryv, the company that now owns the Yellow Pages, for defamation, demanding $15 million. On Sept. 30, U.S. District Judge Jessica G.L. Clarke let the core of the case go ahead. The New York Law Journal ran the ruling on Oct. 8, and PPC Land, which covers the ad industry, dug into it on Thursday.

what the judge actually ruled

The opinion, which is 34 pages and reads like it was a joy to write, finds that the terms "clearly color Plaintiff's business in a salacious light and suggest that she offers services designed to provide sexual gratification, even a form of prostitution." Because she says the company was on notice and did nothing, her claim of gross negligence survives too. Thryv's request to move the case to Texas, under the site's terms of use, was denied. Claims against a Thryv employee in Iowa were dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, and her emotional distress claims were thrown out. Nothing has been proven; this is the stage where a judge decides only whether the claims are plausible.

about that word

For the record, the judge is not saying gay is an insult. The problem, per the opinion, is the bundle: "exotic," "Russian," "gay," "and even 'nude,'" which "especially when considered together" tell a customer she sells something other than a sore-shoulder appointment. Fair. Though we would love to know what "Russian" was doing in there, and who at the Yellow Pages thought of it.

We are not naming her. She is a private person whose only public act was to object to a label, and the label is the whole problem.