Increasingly Desperate Jerry Seinfeld Reduced To Quoting Jackie Chiles In Slander Case
In defending himself from a slander lawsuit—that's the one filed after he went on Letterman and called the woman who his wife ripped off her cookbook idea from a "wacko" and "hysterical" before suggesting her three names might mean she's an assassin—Jerry Seinfeld is pulling out the big guns: His beloved, long-running, top-rated sitcom has now been entered as evidence. The Smoking Gun reports:
In an October 3 court filing...Seinfeld claims that his remarks were consistent with a "recurring theme" of his comedy and not slanderous.
Seinfeld points to a pair of 1995 episodes from his eponymous TV series in which Kramer files a lawsuit after spilling coffee on himself in a movie theater (and then settles the case out of court with the aid of superlawyer Jackie Childs [sic]). Strangely, both episodes cited by Seinfeld were written by Larry David. In his U.S. District Court statement, Seinfeld also cites the 2007 film "Bee Movie" (which he co-wrote) as evidence of his propensity for tort-based humor."
Perhaps you're failing to follow the logic here. What does running through a list of one's own impressive credits have to do with slandering someone on national TV? Nothing. But it does remind the court that Seinfeld is a big star! We ask you, members of the jury, are big stars not allowed to say whatever about whomever they like? We have nothing further, your honor—and apparently neither does his defense team.