Seinfeld Sued for Comments on Letterman
Did you hear about this one?
Comedian, television and film star, and inspirational speaker Jerry Seinfeld is being sued for libel and defamation of character after a recent appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman when he comically compared Missy Chase Lapine to James Earl Ray (the assassin who shot and killed Martin Luther King, Jr) and Mark David Chapman (the assassin of John Lennon). The joke was that they have all use three names and that they were all “Wackos and Assasins”.
Lapine, the author of “The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids’ Favorite Meals,” accused Seinfeld’s wife of plagiarizing her cookbook when the celeb’s wife published “Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food.”
Seinfeld made several jokes on Letterman’s program referring to the accusations by Lapine - apparently Lapine’s book has yet to be published, so it would be difficult for Jessica Seinfeld to get her hands on the book in order to plagerize it - Seinfeld called it a “Watergate-style break-in that would have been perpetrated on the Harper-Collins office.”
Lapine’s lawyers say that “Seinfeld made overstatements of opinion for comic effect” in the lawsuit filed the U.S. District court in Manhattan. Seinfeld’s lawyers say that the lawsuit is ridiculous and have asked that it be thrown out.
Seinfeld is one of America’s most recognizable and respected comedians and motivational speakers and on the surface this lawsuit seems to be pretty ridiculous. We’ll have to wait to see what becomes of it, but since when is a comedian not allowed to make jokes? I think I’m going to sue Dave Chappelle for all those jokes he’s made about white people.