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The Star Wars Kid is suing!
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mugs
Lifer
Yeah, but the kid DID own the COPYRIGHT to that video. The other kids had no right to upload it to the Internet regardless of who owned the recording media.
It doesn't matter if anyone made a dime off it. The kids who uploaded it CLEARLY had malicious intent and knew that it would be embarrassing to the kid. The kid obviously suffered quite a bit from the incidient if he finished the school year in a psychiatric hospital. I don't think the kid deserves $250,000, but the kids who put the video on the Internet deserve to get their asses kicked. Sure the kid might be famous now, but he's famous because people are LAUGHING AT HIM.
That must happen a lot UglyCassanova 😉 :beer:
Skyclad1uhm1
Lifer
But at least I don't star on goatse! 😉
sandorski
No Lifer
The kid was likely a little on the edge already. By taking the video and uploading it to the net, these other kids caused a situation that pushed the Jedi over the edge. The video should never have been put on the net, unless the Jedi had agreed to do so.
Kids like this one are the type who occassionally crack and shoot up a school, they lose what little life they have and have nothing to lose.
Kids like this one are the type who occassionally crack and shoot up a school, they lose what little life they have and have nothing to lose.
AnitaPeterson
Diamond Member
With all that money from the lawsuit, he's going to buy 1,000 copies of "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic" and build himself a house of all the boxes.
What copyright? I don't see anywhere that SWK copyrighted that movie. And like said previously, if you are going to do something that could be embarrassing to yourself, by God, DON'T FILM IT AND LEAVE IT!
Sheesh, if he lost some weight, no one would even recognize him, and he would feel much better with his new iBook. Anyone want to film me doing something stupid? I could use a new computer.
Parents file lawsuit over Star Wars Kid video
By TU THANH HA
Globe and Mail Update
MONTREAL ? The parents of Ghyslain Raza, the Quebec teenager who became a celebrity this spring after classmates posted on the Internet a video of him mimicking a Star Wars character, allege that their son was so humiliated by the experience that he had to get psychiatric care.
The revelation is made in a lawsuit his parents have filed against the families of four classmates they accuse of maliciously turning their son into an object of mockery.
The video of Ghyslain, a portly 15-year-old pretending he is wielding a double-bladed light sabre, has been downloaded millions of times from several Web sites, which dubbed him Star Wars Kid.
Many other pranksters have created their own versions of the clip, with added video effects and sounds. One has him moving at fast-forward speed to goofy music from the Benny Hill Show. Other parodies were made with unflattering titles, such as Dork Clones, or mixed in with sounds of flatulence.
In a statement of claim filed last week in their home town of Trois-Rivières, the Razas say that Ghyslain was so widely mocked at his private high school that he dropped out.
He had to finish the session at Pavillon Arc-en-ciel, a ward specializing in child psychiatry at the Trois-Rivières Regional Hospital Centre.
Ghyslain "will be under psychiatric care for an indefinite amount of time," the statement of claim says.
"The stigma of mental illness can generate social prejudices having severe consequences" on the young man, including making it more difficult for him to enroll in the school of his choice or get a job, or even forcing him to change his name, the document added.
"Ghyslain had to endure, and still endures today, harassment and derision from his high-school mates and the public at large," it said.
The story has appeared in newspapers around the world, from the New York Times to the New Zealand Herald.
The Razas are now seeking $225,000 in damages from the parents of four teenagers: Michaël Caron, François Labarre, Jérôme Laflamme and Jean-Michel Rheault.
They say the four stole the video from a school filing cabinet where Ghyslain had stored a video camera he was using for a student project.
The lawsuit says the four young men then digitized the video before sending it out on the Internet in April, with messages inviting people to make insulting remarks about it.
The statement of claim includes lengthy excerpts that it says come from Internet chats in May between the pranksters.
Complete with misspellings, bad grammar and cyber-style acronyms, the exchanges are used in the statement of claim as evidence that the boys lacked remorse. They also brag in them that they evaded attempts by school officials to find the culprits behind Ghyslain's misfortunes.
Ghyslain's parents and lawyers would not speak to reporters yesterday. The parents of the defendants either did not answer calls or refused to comment because the dispute was before the courts.
While the video of Ghyslain's antics generated some derisive Internet comments, others felt bad and started raising money for him. One group collected more than $3,000 (U.S.), which they used to buy him an Apple iPod portable music player.
In the excerpts from Internet chats filed in court, the four appear to be plotting ways to get the gifts sent to another address so they can keep the iPod for themselves.
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Yea, that really looks like harmless fun now!
Zenmervolt
Elite member
Had you read some of the other articles, you'd know that he was working on a school project and that he was doing the sabre imitations in an attempt to give the actors an idea of what he wanted.
ZV
shenaniganz
Golden Member
I learned a valuable life lesson from staying with bastard roomates in college: the best way to combat people giving you sh!t is to just play along. This kid could make a fortune if he would just give the masses what they want--episode 2, 3, 4, etc. If there's one thing this world needs more of its videos of fat people acting like idiots. Chris Farley--need I say more.
HomeBrewerDude
Lifer
One of the morning shows had a bit on this story. They aired a good 30 seconds of the video in typical fashion... voicing over scenes from the various videos, they spun on about harassment, and how the kid has suffered, citing some dude saying that the mvie has been downloaded about 20 million times. Ironic, since anyone who hadn't seen it, will be much more likely to see it, and will only add to the boy's chagrin.
Personally, the kid needs to buck up and turn this to his advantage. He could almost certainly get on some of the talk shows, make some quik money...probably enough to pay for college.
Personally, the kid needs to buck up and turn this to his advantage. He could almost certainly get on some of the talk shows, make some quik money...probably enough to pay for college.
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