Posted on 12/05/2008 12:19:10 AM PST by raccoonradio
Fired “Backstage” host Barry Nolan is suing Comcast and CN8 for more than a million bucks, saying the cable company violated his constitutional right to rip Fox News bigfoot Bill O’Reilly when they sent Nolan packing last spring.
“This media outlet violated the very Constitutional principles upon which the press relies for its ability to speak freely and fetter (sic) out the truth,” Nolan says in his $1.2 million lawsuit.
Nolan, you may remember, went on a jihad last April when the Boston Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences chose to honor Mr. No Spin Zone with a prestigious Governor’s Award at its May 10 gala.
Back then Barry told the Track O’Reilly was unworthy of the accolade because the Fox yakker was “a mental case” who “inflates and mangles the truth.” And he launched a campaign to try to convince the local Emmy types to rescind the award.
According to the lawsuit, “CN8 admonished Nolan and threatened his employment if he continued to participate in his professional association and express his opinions in that forum.”
The suit claims that Nolan’s supervisor, Eileen Dolente, who is also a defendant, ordered him not to “make a scene” at the awards gala.
But Barry went to the event, papered the ballroom with anti-O’Reilly propaganda and only quit when Emmy Awards cheese Tim Egan told him to cut it out.
CN8 suspended Nolan for 10 days after the awards-show brouhaha and, during his imposed hiatus, he was asked to work a freelance gig for “Extra.”
Dolente told him she preferred he didn’t, but Nolan took the gig and was subsequently canned for insubordination.
Comcast spokesman Tim Fitzpatrick told the Track the company doesn’t comment on litigation “but we stand by our actions and intend to defend this lawsuit vigorously.”
Nolan’s attorney Laura R. Studen of Burns & Levinson said she finds it “ironic that CN8 would pay Nolan to express controversial opinions . . . and would then fire him for expressing his views before a trade association that has nothing to do with the station.”
Do stay tuned . . . .
It seems that whining about free speech when one is fired is the real last refuge of the scoundrel.
This is an adult man's behavior?
And he's calling someone else a mental case?
Yes I had also heard about his views on Bush, etc. and I remember he (and Sara Edwards) on Evening Mag...
Sounds like a righteous firing.
And I do NOT like BOR.
Exactly.
...BOR giving up his radio show btw
But yeah, they told him not to make a scene and he did.
Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are in the Bill of Rights, and they are nearly absolute. Still, what kind of a moron thinks they include a right to lifetime employment after failing to do your job as directed by your employer - or for that matter after your employer chooses to fire you for any reason or for no reason at all?
Funny thing, the 1st Amendment doesn't say anything about Comcast:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.I guess Nolan spilled coffee on his copy and Congress got smeared into Comcast.
That may well be perfectly true, but you can't have on air talent making war on your dime.
I may have seen him once or twice on WBZ-TV, but am only really familiar with Barry Nolan from that weekly NPR (gasp) show Say's You which I think is the funniest thing on radio.
If they would have tried this (seek the truth) during the election, instead of being Obama's boot licking lickspittles, this turn of phrase would not be nearly as funny.
admonished and threatened (asked him not to TRASH the SUCCESSFUL brand, Bill O'Reilly, in a PARTICULAR forum and WARNED Nolan that further incidents would result in termination of his employment)
Nolan, a lesser BRAND, ignored the warning. His employer had every right to FIRE his *ss.
It's unfortunate that celebrities do not understand the brand concept.
Really? Why and when?
Yup.
Sounds like this POS got what was coming to him, to me. Serves him darned right.
The loony left are such pathetic losers.
He doesn’t have time anymore and is said to be giving it up
in the first quarter of 2009
Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly on ‘The O’Reilly Factor.’ He is giving up his highly popular radio program to devote more time to TV. Christensen/AP
Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly on ‘The O’Reilly Factor.’ He is giving up his highly popular radio program to devote more time to TV.
Bill O’Reilly has formally confirmed he’s giving up one of the most successful syndicated radio shows in the country, saying he has just run out of hours in the week.
O’Reilly said the radio show, which he launched in May 2002, will end “in the first quarter of next year.” Most of the time he saves, he said, will go into his top-rated Fox News Channel show.
“The media business is getting more and more intense,” O’Reilly said Thursday. “We’ve got to keep the TV show at the level we have it now, and that means more and more time to keep it competitive and fresh. I’ve been working 60, 65 hours a week and I just can’t keep doing that.”
Nationally, O’Reilly’s radio show is carried on 430 stations, including WOR (710 AM) in New York). Talkers magazine estimates his weekly audience at more than 3.5 million, putting him in the national top 10, and while no official figures are available on advertising, executives close to the show described it as very profitable.
Do you think the reasons given are the real reasons?
You have to wonder if Comcast ever did a background check on this childish looney tune before they hired him. You can't be too careful these days. Nolan is just the kind of wack job who could end up getting nailed in a child pornography ring or something.
It’s amazing how many of these idiots think that the 1st Amendment protects you from the private consequences of your words. You don’t have a right to be a complete idiot in a way that embarrasses your employer.
>>think that the 1st Amendment protects you from the private consequences of your words
Yes. Do I have the freedom to work as a greeter for WalMart and say to each customer, “Welcome to WalMart. F-— you.” Yes I do, but they have the right to fire me for doing that. I wouldn’t last long. Because...
>>You don’t have a right to be a complete idiot in a way that embarrasses your employer
you mean for BOR leaving his show? Don’t know...
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