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Wrestling
promoter settles libel suit against TV watchdog
25th
July 2002
Agreeing
to pay a $3.5 million settlement, Parents Television
Council apologized and said it was wrong for blaming
the deaths of four children on World Wrestling Entertainment’s
television shows.
World
Wrestling Entertainment has won $3.5 million, a retraction
and an apology in settling its defamation lawsuit
against a nonprofit group that blamed the deaths of
four children on the wrestling program "Smackdown."
"It
was premature to reach that conclusion when we did,
and there is now ample evidence to show that conclusion
was incorrect," L. Brent Bozell III, president
of Parents Television Council, said in an apology
posted on the group's Web site, www.parentstv.org.
"It
was wrong to have stated or implied that WWE or any
of its programs caused these tragic deaths."
The
settlement, reached July 3, required the public retraction
and an apology to WWE executives. Bozell also will
apologize to WWE advertisers if the wrestling promoter
requests, said Jerry McDevitt, attorney for the wrestling
group.
WWE
sued Parents Television Council in November 2000 in
federal district court in New York. Representatives
of the media-monitoring council and its parent organization,
Media Research Center, said publicly that children
mimicking wrestling moves from "Smackdown"
were causing the deaths of other children.
In
fund-raising literature, the council also claimed
that 30 to 40 advertisers had pulled ads from "Smackdown!"
The council gave potential contributors a videotape
attacking the WWE.
A
federal district judge refused to dismiss the suit
last year. A jury could find that the statements were
defamatory and made with actual malice -- knowledge
that the statements were false or reckless disregard
for the truth, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin ruled
on May 24, 2001. Chin also ruled that statements made
during fund-raising pitches were commercial speech
that deserved less protection under the First Amendment
than noncommercial speech.
WWE
argued that wrestling moves from "Smackdown"
could not be tied to the children's deaths because
the show did not begin airing until after three of
the incidents and only two days before the fourth
death.
In
his retraction, Bozell said the Parents Television
Council relied on false information, specifically
in the case of Lionel Tate, a 14-year-old who was
prosecuted in 1999 in Florida for the death of 6-year-old
Tiffany Eunick. Tate's attorney argued that the boy
was mimicking what he had seen on wrestling shows.
The Parents Television Council repeated that argument
in its attack on WWE. Tate's defense was rejected,
and the boy was sentenced to life in prison.
The
council was told that Tate was watching a WWE program
when he assaulted the girl, Bozell's retraction says.
"In fact, Lionel Tate was watching the 'Flintstones'
and a cartoon entitled 'Cow and Chicken,' " the
retraction says.
The
council also made inaccurate statements about the
number of WWE advertisers who withdrew from "Smackdown,"
the retraction says. Many of the companies the council
said had withdrawn their ads never advertised on the
show, the statement says.
(World
Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. v. Bozell)
Credit:
The Reporters Commitee
Links
WWE
Parents
Television Council
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