Truth is an absolute defense to defamation... though perhaps not in Canada.
Posted on 04/07/2006 5:53:07 PM PDT by SteveMcKing
TROIS-RIVIÈRES, QUE. — As Ghyslain Raza recalled, whenever he walked by his high school's common areas, other students would jump on tables and chant, "Star Wars Kid! Star Wars Kid!"
There would be a commotion as they shouted and poked at him, trying to get a reaction. "It was simply unbearable," he said.
An otherwise ordinary teen in this Quebec small town, Mr. Raza had become a worldwide object of ridicule when schoolmates put on the Internet a video of him clumsily pretending to be a Star Wars character.
Three years later, Mr. Raza and his parents this week reached an out-of-court settlement with the families of three former schoolmates they had sued for $351,000 in damages.
The settlement annuls a civil trial set to begin on Monday that would have scrutinized one of the world's first and most-publicized cases of cyber-bullying.
However, documents filed in the case at the Trois-Rivières courthouse give new details about how a mean-spirited high-school prank turned into a global Internet cause célèbre.
Specifics of the settlement remain confidential.
(Excerpt) Read more at theglobeandmail.com ...
Truth is an absolute defense to defamation... though perhaps not in Canada.
Lots of funny and well done remixes all over the net. IIRC, the kid got a some money and maybe a computer given to him right after the original video was released on the net.
Perhaps there is an issue of whether the tape was "stolen"? I believe it was merely digitized.
Even if the school technically "owns" it, it's still public property for the use of those students.
"He said the situation left him feeling drained of energy, and that he let himself go and no longer lifted weights to keep fit."
Yep, that's a pic of someone who keeps himself fit!
How stupid - as though kids haven't been teased for as long as there have been kids. We moved a lot when I was a kid - about every year - and I was always the 'new kid'. Took a lot of insults, got in a lot of fights - and survived OK.
No one ever offered me several thousand dollars for my suffering, 'tho!
Life is tough, kid. Wear a helmet.
hehe... I think that goofy costume is his regular clothes.
"and poked at him"
LOL.
can you provide the link to the video?
It's probably the therapist head-shrinkers who forced him to cry, rather than play cool over it.
Girls are REALLY going to hate him now.
He just pi$$ed away the best ever chance he had to get laid.
He was famous, not he's just an idiot.
It's likely on Google, or a peer-to-peer client would surely find it.
(sorry, I don't have it.)
Ok, I found it. Anybody who wants to view it can go here: http://www.screamingpickle.com/humor/legends/StarWarsKid/
Why the hell did these people SETTLE? There was no crime committed!
Ain't that the truth.
When I was in school I was similarly stigmatized as "dinosaur man" because of my dorky interest in dinosaurs. Eventually I figured out that I need to:
1.) Shut up about the stupid dinosaurs
2.) Stop acting like a complete dork
3.) Beat up a few of my classmates
I did. They stopped. It was an important life lesson that the "Star Wars Kid" need to figure out.
Clumsy, hell! The kid is a natural!
Rofl. What a poor schmuck. He let other people define him. If that were me, I would have embraced it. I'd be on letterman doing the thing. heh.
I've seen a number of "edits" to the video. The one where He does a move and passes gas had me laughing my ass off.
If this kid had played his cards better, he could have become a celebrity and had a lot of fun with this incident. Living well is the best strategy -- better than lawsuits.
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.
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