Bristol Palin Wins Lawsuit Against Bar Heckler
Bristol Palin has won a lawsuit against a man who heckled her in a bar, calling her mother Sarah “evil” before suing the reality television star for broadcasting the incident on her reality show.
A judge threw out the defamation suit brought against Bristol Palin by Stephen Hanks, TMZ reported. The incident, which took place on Palin’s reality show, Bristol Palin: Life’s a Tripp, showed Hanks confronting Palin in a bar in Hollywood. He proceeded to call Sarah Palin “evil” and a “whore,” to which Bristol Palin responded that the man was gay, saying she could “tell” by looking at him.
That was where Stephen Hanks’ case fell apart. He had claimed that Bristol Palin’s remarks that his hurtful comments caused her to leave Los Angeles and return home to Alaska damaged his reputation, and that the show invaded his privacy by saying he was gay. But Stephen Hanks is gay, and makes this fact public on social networking sites.
The judge who heard the case agreed with A&E and Bristol Palin, saying that the show is protected by the First Amendment and that Hanks’ privacy could not be violated since he already made his sexuality public. The judge also held Hanks responsible for Bristol Palin’s attorney’s fees.
The judge was following in mom Sarah Palin’s footsteps in defending Bristol Palin. After her daughter received a mysterious white powder sent to her on the set of Dancing With The Stars last month, Sarah Palin snapped into mama grizzly mode on her Facebook page:
“I’m in California today to support Bristol. I’m sorry to see that she’s again getting those annoying death threats and more ‘mysterious white powder’ sent to her while on Dancing with the Stars this All-Star season. These threats sure waste a lot of time, production and public resources; but do the haters really think this will stop Bristol and Mark and the show’s producers from keepin’ on keepin’ on? Silly critics – after all these years of goofy antics like this we find these efforts are actually quite motivating! Bristol’s not letting this get her down.”
What do you think of Bristol Palin’s lawsuit win?
