According to the NY Post, a double-amputee Iraq War vet is suing Michael Moore for 85 million for making the vet sound anti-war in “Fahrenheit 9/11.”
Sgt. Peter Damon, 33, who strongly supports America’s invasion of Iraq, said he never agreed to be in the 2004 movie, which trashes President Bush.In the 2003 interview, which he did at Walter Reed Army Hospital for NBC News, he discussed only a new painkiller the military was using on wounded vets.
“They took the clip because it was a gut-wrenching scene,” Damon said yesterday. “They sandwiched it in. [Moore] was using me as ammunition.”
Damon seems to “voice complaint about the war effort” in the movie, according to the lawsuit.
But what the father of two from Middleborough, Mass., was really talking about was the “excruciating” pain he felt after he lost his arms when a Black Hawk helicopter exploded in front of him.
Damon wasn’t expressing any opinion about the war, the suit charges, but rather extolling the drug.
Of course this is typical of the auteur who is well known to have exploited members of the Writers Guild for years. Taking advantage of amputees is more repellent. I hope this one goes to trial.
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9 Comments
1. corndog:Wow! It would be really great if this could make it into a courtroom. The media would certainly black it out, but the rest of us could keep the story going.
May 31, 2006 - 10:44 am 2. ElMondo:“Of course this is typical of the auteur who is well known to have exploited members of the Writers Guild for years…”
He did? What’d he do, Roger? Some of us are unaware of this.
May 31, 2006 - 11:25 am 3. Sandy P:He should amend his suit to revoke the academy award and the cannes award.
May 31, 2006 - 11:39 am 4. Roger:ElMondo, the great “progressive” Mr. Moore fought unionization of his television show for years. He did not want to pay WGA rates. You can read about this in the long New Yorker profile of Moore, among other places.
May 31, 2006 - 11:48 am 5. Ray Zacek:Look for an out of court settlement and a gag order on all parties involved.
May 31, 2006 - 2:00 pm 6. ClericalGal:If I were independently wealthy, I would offer to pay for Sgt. Damon’s attorney. I hope the sergeant bankupts Moore. But realistically, even if the case goes to court and Sgt. Damon wins, Moore will appeal until doomsday. I agree, then, with Ray Zacek that the case will be settled out-of-court.
May 31, 2006 - 6:04 pm 7. Ray Zacek:Drudge headlines this lawsuit today however the link offered on Drudge is to a South Carolina newspaper, which may be indicative of the attention this case gets in MSM. I’ll stand by my prediction this case will end in obscurity with out of court settlement, with Moore tossing a few shekels at this guy, which he can afford, but not losing one bit of his stridency.
Jun 1, 2006 - 7:51 am 8. Twill00:If I were Sgt Damon, I wouldn’t settle. Or rather, the settlement would require retraction of all copies containing my face, and buyback of all copies in the hands of the public. Sgt Damon can clearly get a court order forbidding any future sales, if he can demonstrate that what is on the DVD is damaging/defaming to Damon and untrue. Then it is up to Moore to determine what all of his future sales are worth.
Then we can hope for a second plaintiff…
Jun 2, 2006 - 5:38 am 9. ElMondo:“ElMondo, the great “progressive” Mr. Moore fought unionization of his television show for years. He did not want to pay WGA rates.”
Really? Serious? Wow… that’s pretty hypocritical of him. I never would’ve guessed, and no, I’m not being sarcastic. Given his lionization of the Union Man in Roger & Me, you’d figure he’d be completely for unionization.
I’m oddly disappointed, in spite of my already low opinion of him. I figured his agitprop was at least honestly held agitprop, but now I wonder.
Jun 12, 2006 - 6:58 pm