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Our long national nightmare is over: Nearly one year after filing a blistering, $70 million lawsuit against Current TV, Keith Olbermann and his former employer have reportedly reached a settlement. Specifics of the deal are confidential — and Current TV has declined to comment, while Olbermann has not yet responded to EW’s requests for comment — but according to Deadline, the ousted host was awarded “a significant payout.” READ FULL STORY »
A federal judge heard arguments on whether Utah can prohibit plural marriage but issued no immediate ruling in a lawsuit by the stars of the reality show Sister Wives.
Kody Brown and his four wives claim the law is unconstitutional. The family fled Utah for Las Vegas last year under the threat of prosecution. They did not attend Thursday’s hearing in Salt Lake City, leaving arguments to a constitutional law professor. READ FULL STORY »
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Didn’t get a chance to read Girls creator Lena Dunham’s $3.7 million book proposal when it leaked online last Friday? Too bad — Gawker, the site that originally published the proposal, has removed it after being contacted by Charles Harder, the 26-year-old multihyphenate’s lawyer. Buzzfeed has taken down every image from a post titled “9 Passages From Lena Dunham’s Book Proposal Illustrated By Her Instagrams” as well.
But while Gawker writer John Cook got rid of the proposal itself — though it’s probably still floating around on the Internet, since Cook posted it as a downloadable Scribd file — he neglected to scrub several of its quotes from his original blog post despite Harder’s cease and desist. Instead, Cook has added snide commentary meant “to clarify our intent in quoting the above matter from Dunham’s proposal” to each excerpt. Example: “The quoted sentence demonstrates that Dunham is incapable of conceiving a rationale for writing that doesn’t serve the goal of drawing attention to herself.”
Girls returns to HBO Jan. 13.
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Image Credit: ABC
A federal appeals court on Monday upheld a $319 million verdict over profits from the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and rejected Walt Disney Co.’s request for a new trial.
A jury decided in 2010 that Disney hid the show’s profits from its creators, London-based Celador International. The ruling Monday by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found no issues with the verdict or with a judge’s rulings in the case.
“I am pleased that justice has been done,” Celador Chairman Paul Smith said in a statement.
Disney did not immediately comment on the decision. READ FULL STORY »
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A third accuser has come forward against Kevin Clash, the Elmo puppeteer who resigned from Sesame Street last week after a second accusation of having a sexual relationship with a minor.
This new accuser, known currently as “John,” 28, filed a lawsuit in Manhattan today, per TMZ. John accuses Clash of having a sexual relationship with him when he was still 16. John is represented by Jeff Herman, the same lawyer who represents Cecil Singleton, who last week also accused Clash of an underage sexual relationship.
EW reached out to a rep for Clash, who said, “Mr. Clash believes this lawsuit has no merit.”
UPDATE: Michael Berger, Clash’s attorney, told EW: “The federal cases filed against Kevin Clash are without merit. The cases and Mr. Clash’s reputation will be defended vigorously.”
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The Supreme Court decided Friday not to consider reinstating the government’s $550,000 fine on CBS for Janet Jackson’s infamous breast-bearing “wardrobe malfunction” at the 2004 Super Bowl. The high court refused to hear an appeal from the Federal Communications Commission over the penalty.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals twice had thrown out the fine. The second time came after the Supreme Court upheld the FCC’s policy threatening fines against even one-time uses of curse words on live television.
The appeals court said FCC’s policy of excusing fleeting instances of indecent words and images appeared to change without notice in March 2004, a month after Jackson’s halftime act. The judges said that made the agency’s action against CBS “arbitrary and capricious.” But now, the FCC clearly has abandoned its exception for fleeting expletives, Chief Justice John Roberts said. ”It is now clear that the brevity of an indecent broadcast — be it word or image — cannot immunize it from FCC censure,” he said. “Any future ‘wardrobe malfunctions’ will not be protected on the ground relied on by the court below.”
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Less than two months after Nathaniel Claybrooks and Christopher Johnson filed a discrimination suit against The Bachelor producers Warner Horizon Television and Bachelor network ABC, both parties have struck back. EW has obtained papers confirming that judges in the U.S. District Court Middle District of Tennessee in Nashville have agreed to stay the trial in consideration of a change of venue, as first reported by The Hollywood Reporter. READ FULL STORY »
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Nicollette Sheridan will have yet another day in court: The same judge who declared a mistrial in her wrongful termination lawsuit against ABC and ABC Studios last month said today that a retrial of her case will begin in Los Angeles on Sept. 10. The trial is expected to take 12 days.
The original trial ended March 19 with the jury split eight-to-four in favor of the actress, who claimed that her Desperate Housewives character Edie Britt was killed off the show in 2009 after she complained about an incident where she claims to have been hit on the head by executive producer and show creator Marc Cherry. (Cases like this require nine jury members to agree on a decision.) The suit originally included Cherry as a defendant on a charge of battery, but that was dropped when the judge said it didn’t meet the workman’s compensation benchmark that applies to such matters.
The original trial saw testimony from Sheridan and Cherry, of course, as well as folks like star James Denton, Cherry’s producing partner Sabrina Wind, former ABC Entertainment President Steve McPherson, and former ABC Studios honcho Mark Pedowitz. The retrial will likely see several of the same people — including Cherry, even though he isn’t a defendant any longer — take the stand yet again.
The two-hour series finale of Desperate Housewives airs May 13, but the trial ensures that the drama from Wisteria Lane will continue to unfold well into the fall.
Tanner on Twitter: @EWTanStransky
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Image Credit: Craig Sjodin/ABC
News broke Tuesday that Nathaniel Claybrooks and Christopher Johnson, two African-American football players from Nashville, are holding a press conference Wednesday to discuss their decision to file a class action lawsuit against ABC’s The Bachelor on behalf of “all persons of color who have applied for the role of The Bachelor or Bachelorette but been denied the equal opportunity for selection on the basis of race.” The players say they plan to target ABC, Bachelor executive producer Mike Fleiss, and the show’s production companies (which include Warner Horizon Television, Next Entertainment, and NZK Productions).
The release announcing the conference noted that, “Over a combined total of 23 seasons, neither show has ever had a Bachelor or Bachelorette of color.”
EW reached out to entertainment lawyers who specialize in discrimination cases and are based in California (where The Bachelor is filmed) to provide some insight. The lawyers admitted this was an unprecedented case in many ways. “I’ve watched that [area of law] like a hawk, and I haven’t seen a case like this before,” said Jeffrey S. Kravitz of Fox Rothschild LLP. Though facts on the potential case are still uncertain (Claybrooks and Johnson plan to formally file their suit on Wednesday), this kind of case could be a game-changer. READ FULL STORY »
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The deliberation was apparently too much to bear for the jury in Nicollette Sheridan’s wrongful termination lawsuit against the makers of Desperate Housewives. A Superior Court judge on Monday declared a mistrial after the jury was split 8 to 4 in favor of the actress — one short of the nine needed to make a decision.
Juror Beverly Crosby told reporters Monday that she believed Sheridan was hit by Executive Producer/Creator Marc Cherry, which the actress believed precipitated her firing. During the civil trial, ABC argued that it had approved the death of Sheridan’s Edie Britt character in May 2008 — four months before Cherry had struck the actress at the beginning of season 5 in September 2008. Sheridan was killed off later that season after, her attorneys allege, Cherry was cleared of wrongdoing by ABC.
“The evidence showed she was struck, so we didn’t get bogged down with the terminology,” Crosby said. “I looked at the fact that she was touched without permission.”
The jury went into the weekend deadlocked but Judge Elizabeth Allen White urged them to try to resolve Sheridan’s $6 million suit against ABC.
Both sides will reportedly seek a new trial.
Read more:
Nicollette Sheridan’s ‘Desperate Housewives’ trial: A round-up of essential takeaways so far
‘Desperate Housewives’ trial: Creator says Nicollette Sheridan let go because of ‘unprofessional behavior’
Nicollette Sheridan at ‘Desperate Housewives’ trial: Creator Marc Cherry ‘hit me upside the head’
Image Credit: Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage
The battery charge in Nicollette Sheridan’s trial against Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry has been dropped, per judge Elizabeth Allen White. With that part of the case removed, Cherry is no longer a defendant. The case still includes a wrongful termination claim against former employers ABC and ABC Studios.
Sheridan claimed in her original $6 million suit that Cherry had struck her on the set of Desperate Housewives on Sept. 24, 2008.
In dismissing the charge, the judge made the point that Sheridan’s claims did not meet the standard of proof for battery. The only question that remains in the case now is if Sheridan was, indeed, retaliated against by ABC when her character, Edie Britt, was killed off the show and she was let go. With the battery charge dropped, the jury will still be asked to decide on the wrongful-termination claim.
Cherry appeared outside the courtroom after the charge was dismissed and spoke to the press for the first time. “Obviously I’m thrilled by the judge’s decision,” he said. “But I’m going to withhold further comment until this matter is resolved completely.”
Tanner on Twitter: @EWTanStransky
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Nicollette Sheridan’s ‘Desperate Housewives’ trial: A round-up of essential takeaways so far
‘Desperate Housewives’ major character death revealed: Read an EXCLUSIVE interview with the star!
‘Desperate Housewives’ trial: Creator says Nicollette Sheridan let go because of ‘unprofessional behavior’
Nicollette Sheridan at ‘Desperate Housewives’ trial: Creator Marc Cherry ‘hit me upside the head’
Nicollette Sheridan’s ‘Desperate Housewives’ trial starts today
‘Desperate Housewives’ trial begins: ‘This is a man hitting a woman’
Image Credit: Ron Tom/ABC
Nicollette Sheridan’s wrongful termination and battery case against Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry, ABC, and ABC Studios has continued this entire week in downtown Los Angeles. A variety of witnesses have been called — including Cherry, ABC executives Mark Pedowitz and Steve McPherson, Desperate star James Denton, and producers George Perkins and Sabrina Wind — who have all contributed heartily to the deluge of information out there about the case. We’ve updated you earlier in the week, but to help you sort it all out, EW has distilled the essential information from the last few days of testimony:
+ CASE CLOSED…SOON: Judge Elizabeth Allen White told the jury today that she expects the case to wrap — closing arguments and all — by Tuesday, March 13. That means that it’s highly unlikely that many on the potential witness list — including high profile names like Sheridan’s former co-stars Marcia Cross, Felicity Huffman, and Eva Longoria — will be called to testify. White said that it was “not appropriate” for the stars to appear — the defense had hoped to use them to show how Cherry interacted with them over physical direction. (However, the defense could still call them under other auspices.)
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Both Nicollette Sheridan and Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry have finished their juicy testimony in the actress’ wrongful termination suit that’s playing out in downtown Los Angeles, so other players are now taking the stage. Today, Sheridan’s entertainment lawyer Neil Meyer took the stand and told the court that the former Desperate Housewives actress was afraid she’d lose her job after an encounter where Cherry allegedly struck her on the head, on set. Sheridan is seeking $6 million in damages for her eventual termination, which she says happened in retaliation for complaining about the incident with Cherry.
While on the stand today, Sheridan’s lawyer Meyer characterized Cherry as a “vindictive man.” (That remark was eventually struck from the record, at the request of Cherry’s lawyer.) He also explained that Sheridan has been willing to move on from the situation. “We weren’t looking to ABC/Disney to do anything,” Meyer said during questioning, “because Nicollette was concerned about retaliation. Marc Cherry had apologized, and she was prepared to put her head down and go back to work. Nicollette was upset, but she was also worried about her job.”
James Hibberd
@James_Hibberd
Lynette Rice
@EWLynette
