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Why would Moore need Damon's permission to air an NBC clip? Damon probably has an uphill fight on this one.
Twisting a man's words to fwd any cause is just plain bull and if this is true somebody is going to pay...Iraq Veteran Sues Moore Over 9/11 Film
Wednesday May 31 6:25 PM ET
A veteran who lost both arms in the war in Iraq is suing filmmaker Michael Moore for $85 million, alleging that Moore used snippets of a television interview without his permission to falsely portray him as anti-war in "Fahrenheit 9/11."
Sgt. Peter Damon, a National Guardsman from Middleborough, is asking for damages because of "loss of reputation, emotional distress, embarrassment, and personal humiliation," according to the lawsuit filed in Suffolk Superior Court last week.
Damon, 33, claims that Moore never asked for his consent to use a clip from an interview Damon did with NBC's "Nightly News."
He lost his arms when a tire on a Black Hawk helicopter exploded while he and another reservist were servicing the aircraft on the ground. Another reservist was killed in the explosion.
In his interview with NBC, Damon was asked about a new painkiller the military was using on wounded veterans. He claims in his lawsuit that the way Moore used the film clip in "Fahrenheit 9/11" Moore's scathing 2004 do entary criticizing the Bush administration and the war in Iraq makes him appear to "voice a complaint about the war effort" when he was actually complaining about "the excruciating type of pain" that comes with the injury he suffered.
In the movie, Damon is shown lying on a gurney, with his wounds bandaged. He says he feels likes he's "being crushed in a vise."
"But they (the painkillers) do a lot to help it," he says. "And they take a lot of the edge off of it."
Damon is shown shortly after U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., is speaking about the Bush administration and says, "You know, they say they're not leaving any veterans behind, but they're leaving all kinds of veterans behind."
Damon contends that Moore's positioning of the clip just after the congressman's comments makes him appear as if he feels like he was "left behind" by the Bush administration and the military.
In his lawsuit, Damon says he "agrees with and supports the President and the United States' war effort, and he was not left behind."
He said that, while at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center recovering from his wounds, he had surgery and physical therapy, learned to use prosthetics and live independently. He also said that Homes For Our Troops, a not-for-profit group, built him a house with handicapped accessibility.
"The work creates a substantially fictionalized and falsified implication as a wounded serviceman who was left behind when Plaintiff was not left behind but supported, financially and emotionally, by the active assistance of the President, the United States and his family, friends, acquaintances and community," Damon says in his lawsuit.
Moore did not immediately return calls seeking comment Wednesday. A message was left for Moore at a personal number in New York and with HarperCollins, publisher of Moore's 2002 book, "Stupid White Men...And Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation!"
A spokesman for Miramax Film Corp., also named as a defendant, did not immediately return a call.
Damon did not immediately respond to a request for an interview.
"It's upsetting to him because he's lived his life supportive of his government, he's been a patriot, he's been a soldier, and he's now being portrayed in a movie that is the an hesis of all of that," Damon's lawyer, Dennis Lynch, said. Damon is seeking $75 million in damages for emotional distress and loss of reputation. His wife is suing for an additional $10 million in damages because of the mental distress caused to her husband, Lynch said.
Why would Moore need Damon's permission to air an NBC clip? Damon probably has an uphill fight on this one.
i think one of his arguments is that the quote was taken out of context and made him sound like he is against the war when he isn't.
I understand that argument, but not the permission angle that was mentioned twice.
Wether or not this is true, Moore is a jackass. The guy does not seek the truth, he seeks $$$ plain and simple.
Have to agree with the above post. Moore is an Ass. I wont demean a jackass
by comparing him with Moore.
He has no legal ground, Moore's ass-ness notwithstanding. For one thing, it didn't imply that he was against the war, it simply showed his situation as a consequence. It's no different from showing a casket or a dead soldier... Neither implies that the deceased soldiers are against war.
For another thing, since it was broadcast on NBC, Moore only needed their permission.
Finally, since Damon was a subject of an NBC story, he likely qualifies as a "public figure" which makes it more difficult for him to win these types of charges.
Seems like a bit of opportunism to me... not by Damon, it sounds like he was coached. Perhaps getting Michael Moore back in the News is what Republicans think will help improve public opinion before elections. Not a bad idea, really.
"he seeks $$$ plain and simple."
.. which is very Repug of him. The Repugs SOLE "value" and accomplishment in 6 years has been enriching and protecting the rich + corps.
Private-citizen Moore is in show business, the elected Repugs are in kleptocracy business.
Moore admits that F/911 is propaganda, but his argument is that we've been hearing propaganda almost non-stop since well before 9/11. He agrees F/911 is slanted, biased and basically says "So what?"
His point is that it's almost a parody of media techniques used by the corporate media that clearly cheerleaded for preemptive war in Iraq.
And sloppiness and disrespect have NEVER been used in the corporate media, have they?
Well said dan. It's ashamed more people refuse to admit the mistakes of this administration.
I can't stand Moore, he's such a jackass. I loved how he got humilated in the Oscars when he didn't submit F9/11 as a do entary just so he could have a better shot at Best Picture. How'd that work out for him, eh?
BTW, this is coming from someone who actually likes Al Franken and would've voted democrat if he lived in the US, so it's not Moore's politics I don't like, it's the way he presents it.
Right, Democrats are such ing upstanding citizens. All Clinton was good for was adultery and selling this country's military secrets to the ing Chinese."he seeks $$$ plain and simple."
.. which is very Repug of him. The Repugs SOLE "value" and accomplishment in 6 years has been enriching and protecting the rich + corps.
adultery?
huh?
and I heard clinton funded bin laden, trained his army and gave him weapons in the 80's
Moore = Idiot
Next!
All I know is that most politicians (both parties) suck.
I think politics suck.
A no-vote is a vote for the status-quo. Voting is the most important responsibility of a democratic society. Uninformed citizens are more easily manipulated.
Internet snoopers bust Damon!!
According a June 1, 2006 article by the Boston Globe, Sgt. Peter J. Damon is a "staunch supporter of the war effort and President Bush":
Relatives wanted to know why the 33-year-old Damon...agreed to be in a movie that was harshly critical of both...Friends wanted to know why...(he)...was portrayed as a veteran who had been left behind when...military medical personnel had helped him learn to use his artificial arms and veterans groups had helped build his family a new house...
...This week, Damon sued Moore and several film production companies for $85 million...(because)...Moore included him in the movie (Farenheit 9/11) without his permission and misrepresented his stand on the war...Moore used a clip of an interview with Damon conducted by NBC...(in which he) described the intense pain in his arms, which were both severed at the elbow. "...((T)he pain-killers) do a lot to help it," he said. "...(T)hey take a lot of the edge off..." Moore positioned the clip after an interview with...Jim McDermott, a Washington Democrat and a critic of Bush and the war.
"It was kind of almost like the enemy was using me for propaganda," Damon told (a) television station. "...I didn't lose my arms over there to be used as ammunition against my commander-in-chief."
Now, according to a July 24, 2004 SouthOfBoston.com article:
Based on that policy, Damon ought to be suing NBC, too--if he didn't sign a release, he presumably didn't expect the footage to be used beyond the newscast. How can he not have a problem with NBC selling the footage without his knowledge or consent, yet have a problem with how it got used? Anyhow, it wasn't looking good for Mike until Daily Kos dug up this January 15, 2004 article from CNN.com:An NBC News spokeswoman responded through an e-mail..."As all news organizations do, NBC News does license footage that has already aired on NBC programs...As a general rule, most news organizations, including NBC News, do not obtain releases from people who appear on our news programs.
"When we do license footage — as in this instance — NBC includes a provision that it is the responsibility of the licensee, not NBC, to obtain all required consents and releases necessary to use the footage..." Based on that policy, it would have been up to Moore to get any needed clearance.
Now, there HAS to be a reasonable explanation for this. Guilt-tripping friends? Angry fellow soldiers? A money-hungry lawyer? A swiftboat-style smear campaign in which he's an unwitting pawn? I've got it--THE PAINKILLERS!!!WASHINGTON (CNN)-- U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, an elder statesman among liberal Democrats, slammed President Bush and his administration for going to war in Iraq based on political considerations...He was flanked by Brian and Alma Hart, whose son John was killed in Iraq, and Army Sgt. Peter Damon, who lost both arms serving in Iraq...
That would explain why Damon thinks it's okay to have footage of him sold without his consent, and why he forgot that he publicly supported a politician who didn't support the war: the painkillers worked so well that it's taken him this long to sober up! And if Moore read the article before finishing Fahrenheit 9/11, it's certainly logical that he would identify Damon as a Bush/war critic. Either way, Damon's case is dead in the water, especially if Mike remembers to download a copy of the article before Google erases the web cache.
I vote. I just dont vote based on a certain party (ie Nbadan and Yone-whatever). Even though I vote, I still think politics suck.
CLINTON... got a BLOWJOB... in the WHITEHOUSE!!!!!!!!!!
Translation "So, well your party has a butt-face too!"
Where have I seen this before....oh, thats right. Yonivore and X-ray. It seems the divide between politicians and their base is not that great across the political aisle. It's nice to see that both sides resort to mindlessly bashing the opposing party even when it doesn't quite fit in with the story.
Nobody's gonna put a squeeze on MM, unless your his belt. This guy's cred has been torn to shreds.
Michael Moore's being sued?
Cool.
That guy's a jackass.
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