Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Casherazzi (or, exercising my First Amendment right to refer to Josh Levine and his boss Harvey Levin as scumbags)

Followup.

Remember how one of Harvey Levin's hired cameramen provoked Woody Harrelson into damaging his camera? Well, the cameraman's name is Josh Levine, and he's looking for a payday:

[A] paparazzo who says he was on the receiving end of a Woody Harrelson smackdown last year is looking for a little payback.

TMZ.com photographer Josh Levine sued Harrelson for $2.5 million [in March], maintaining that the Natural Born Killers star assaulted him last June as he shot footage of him leaving the Hollywood club Element.

Footage posted on TMZ shows Levine doing his darndest to get Harrelson's attention, telling him that he couldn't help following because "you're just so sexy" as he trails the actor and his entourage down the street. Harrelson then approached and stuck his hand in front of Levine's video camera.

The plaintiff, who has accused the hemp-friendly thespian of assault and battery, stated in his lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, that when Harrelson showed him the hand, he simultaneously shoved the camera into Levine's ribs and broke the equipment on impact.

Harrelson then put both of his hands around Levine's neck and threatened him, court documents state.


I guess Levine may like sexy men, but he doesn't like it when they play rough. I guess that means he won't be stalking Boy George any time soon.

By the way, this is a civil case. On the criminal end, there's no case:

[T]he Los Angeles District Attorney's Office opted not to press felony charges, with prosecutors stating that the footage of the incident didn't prove that Harrelson had intended to break the camera or cause Levine bodily harm. The L.A. City Attorney's Office also passed on filing misdemeanor charges.

tmz

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2 comments:

carmilevy said...

God bless America. Where would that great country be if its citizens didn't have the right to launch frivolous lawsuits against each other?

My fave of the last week: the family of dead baseball player Josh Hancock is suing everybody who crossed paths with him on the night he died. Never mind that he was really drunk, was driving without a seatbelt, and was yakking on his cell phone.

Even the guy driving the car that stalled, thus necessitating the tow truck that was on scene when drunk ballplayer guy plowed into it, was sued for not maintaining his car properly.

Louis Armstrong got it right.

Good to e-see you again, BTW!

Ontario Emperor said...

Perhaps Josh Hancock's dad will end up suing himself for poor parenting. While an adult can make his/her own decisions, in my view the parent is more at fault than the guy with the stalled car.