Wednesday, October
29, 3:33 PM PST
Area Man Files Suit Against Satire Media
by Cappy
Ahab,
NA!P NewsWire
BLOOMINGTON, IND. -- In a suit filed Monday in a U.S. District Court,
a local man accuses multiple media satire periodicals -- including
corporate monolith The Onion -- of privacy violations,
stemming from the humor industry's over reliance on observational
comedy.
Other named defendants, including Mad
Magazine, RealFunny.com (on hiatus) and the now defunct HaHaImLaughingDailyNews.com,
are accused of contributing to a "mass-media personal attack"
on the area man.
The
plaintiff alleges that the defendants have used "high-tech
surveillance equipment, countless agents and a very broad sense
of what is funny" in their quest to defame and ridicule
him.
The suit reads: "Plaintiff alleges
that The Onion, et al. have secretly tracked his
movements and daily activities. Through the use of espionage
and surreptitious data collection methods, Defendants have illegally
invaded the privacy of Plaintiff."
The area man also alleges that the defendants
have used "exaggeration and downright lies" to discredit,
defame and libel him -- albeit sometimes in a funny way -- for
commercial benefit.
"For instance, The Onion insists
that Plaintiff keeps mentioning he doesn't own a television,"
reads the complaint. "In fact, he only mentions it once
per person, maybe twice when having a cold one with friends."
In addition to unspecified damages, the
plaintiff demands that defendants cease the publication of any
fictitious, exaggerated or otherwise untrue articles regarding
the area man on the basis that such activity is "played
out. Way out."
The suit also demands that defendants give
the area man any profits accumulated through distribution of
such humor articles.
The editor of The Onion, Carol Kolb,
would not return calls for comment. Later, the paper published
"Area Man Attacked, Killed by Untraceable Satire Ninjas"
in its October 15 edition.
In the interest of full disclosure,
The New News acknowledges that its parent company,
No Apologies! Press, holds some small investments in the
humor industry. Very small investments.
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