Allen calls New York Times 'cheap'

Lily Allen has slammed the New York Times after it allegedly sold photos taken inside her house without her permission.

The singer wrote on her MySpace page that the paper was "cheap and disgusting" for selling on the pictures of her London flat to OK! magazine.

Allen explained that she believed the paper was "one of the most respected" publications, and so took the unusual step of allowing a photographer to come to her house for a shot to accompany an "intimate" interview.

She wrote: "Needless to say I was mortified, in fact I was in tears, six photos of inside my home for everyone to see, and a made up interview that was very misleading. All this because I’d let the NYT photographer into my home.

"I was furious and got on the phone immediately...Everybody assures me this is completely unheard of for the NYT to act in such a cheap and disgusting way."

In a response from the paper, a spokesperson wrote: "As the copyright owner of thousands of photographs, a significant part of our business, like most news organizations, is the syndication of photos to third parties.

"This is very standard in the news business and I’m sorry that it comes as a surprise to your client."