Hollywood Docket: Warhol child porn?; Hasselbeck book infringement?; NY Post discrimination?
Tue Dec 01, 2009 @ 10:09AM PSTEntertainment law news this morning:
- A New Jersey individual and his family are suing the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and director Paul Morrissey over a film produced by The Factory in the 1960s called "All Aboard to Dreamland Choo Choo." According to the complaint, plaintiff Richard Toelk starred in the film at the age of 14 and was allegedly abused by drugs and torture. Toelk's family accuses Warhol and Morrissey of continuing to make money off of a film that violated child pornography laws.
- "The View" co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck is being sued for the second time by the author of a gluton-free survival guide who alleges Hasselbeck's book on the topic infringed her own. Earlier in the month, a Massachusetts court dismissed Susan Hassetts' claim, but the plaintiff has now filed a more detailed complaint.
- New York actor Charles Buckley is suing producers of the now-cancelled ABC show "The Unusuals" after allegedly suffering injuries related to seven body slams he received during the course of filming. Buckley played a gang member caught by a New York SWAT officer.
- The New York Post has been hit with another lawsuit alleging racial discrimination. Austin Fenner, who was fired on November 9 after saying he expressed opposition to a Barack Obama cartoon, has filed a federal complaint claiming "racial animus" at the Post. The lawsuit comes two weeks after another NYP editor, Sandra Guzman, made sensational allegations of racism and sexism at the paper.
- In England, two rappers have been jailed after creating a music video posted to YouTube that was allegedly made to warn people from talking to police about a murder. The rappers were found guilty of acting to pervert the course of justice with their speech.