Charlie Sheen's Ex Threatens To Sue Anyone Who Mentions Her Name On Comedy Central
from the winning,-duh dept
btr1701 alerts us to the news that Charlie Sheen's ex-wife, Brooke Mueller, is supposedly threatening to take legal action against anyone who mentions her at the upcoming Comedy Central Roast of Sheen (um, wait, Charlie Sheen deserves a roast? really?). While she may have a contractual legal leg to stand on concerning certain subjects from Sheen himself, since the report says their divorce agreement includes some sort of promise from Sheen to "never publicly discuss her drug use," I can't see how she has any legal leg to stand on at all concerning anyone else making jokes about her. In fact, just in having this story come out, it seems like she's likely to become an even bigger target for the roasters. It seems like yet another case of "publicity rights" gone mad, where, thanks to ever expanding intellectual property laws and concepts, people seem to think that they can stop anyone from even talking about them if they don't like what's being said.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: brooke mueller, charlie sheen, comedy central, publicity rights, roast
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
She's just trying to give Comedy Central something to make fun of. Don't be fooled, this is just an act.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
sounds like a sore spot.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Defamation—also called calumny, vilification, traducement, slander (for transitory statements), and libel (for written, broadcast, or otherwise published words)—is the communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government, or nation a negative image. It is usually a requirement that this claim be false and that the publication is communicated to someone other than the person defamed (the claimant).[1]
In common law jurisdictions, slander refers to a malicious, false,[2][not specific enough to verify] and defamatory spoken statement or report, while libel refers to any other form of communication such as written words or images.[3] Most jurisdictions allow legal actions, civil and/or criminal, to deter various kinds of defamation and retaliate against groundless criticism. Related to defamation is public disclosure of private facts, which arises where one person reveals information that is not of public concern, and the release of which would offend a reasonable person. "Unlike [with] libel, truth is not a defense for invasion of privacy."
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
I sure have. And as a public figure, Mueller is shit out of luck in having a cause of action against a comedian for making fun of her very public relationship.
If it were that easy to shut people up, *every* public figure would immediately take out an injunction against comedians (Leno, Letterman, etc.) from cracking jokes at their expense. Schwarzenegger, Weiner, etc. come immediately to mind.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
That said, slander or libel has to be untrue, and if they're making fun of known things, it'd be impossible to prove that.
Either way, her PR firm needs to tell her to settle and roll with it, it will be over a lot quicker that way.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Ever bothered to read up on what you're about to post before you cut-and-paste from some online treatise?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I don't think there's much she will be able to do about it, at least in the US though. Unless the other presenters where signatories to the divorce decree they cannot be bound by it. At that point, free speech, public figure, and all that. She can send all the demand letters to Comedy Central she wants but might want to keep in mind that this is the network that brings us South Park every week. I'm sure they've had their share of pissed off celebrities sending legal nastygrams.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
LOL?
How much coke did Charlie Sheen use?
Enough to kill two and a half men =)
[/pointless-post]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Charlie Sheen?
Does he know?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Chucky Sheen
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
She threatened Comedy Central?
There are a few people in entertainment I would not challenge.
1. Matt Stone and Trey Parker: South Park
2. Joe Rogan: Just check out You Tube videos. That guy will tear you apart psychologically and if necessary physically as well.
3. Kevin Smith. Who wants to mess with Kevin Smith?
So she better hope they lose interest before the next season comes out...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]