| Bravo Is Sued For
Real Housewives of NY Pressing
McSweeney to Drink Cites Free
Speech
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE,
Aug 13 – Arguing that she was
pressured into drinking
alcohol while on the "Real
Housewives of New York" show,
Leah McSweeney has sued NBC,
Bravo, Andy Cohen and others.
The defendant argue that they
are protected by the First
Amendment.
On
August 13, this was argued
before U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New
York Judge Lewis J. Liman, who
mentioned a possible conflict
of interest while calling the
free speech / anti-SLAPP
defense "interesting." Inner
City Press was there. From the
thread:
Judge Liman: How
much of this is about the
shows the Defendants put up?
McSweeney's
lawyer: Discriminatory speech
is not protected. So we do not
think discovery should be
stayed. Judge: What discovery
are you going to need?
McSweeney's
lawyer: On air and off air
footage. Some of the conduct
intended to retaliate against
Ms. McSweeney was coordinated
with others. So, third party
discovery.
Bravo / Cohen
lawyer Levin: This is
implicates the First
Amendment. It could chill free
speech. There are anti-SLAPP
laws Judge: Doesn't part
of this have to do with
alcohol and drinking? Could a
producer require an actor to
drink alcohol?
Defense lawyer:
That's not what happened here.
But the First Amendment would
protect the employer in that
case from a lawsuit, for
authenticity Judge: What about
smoking marijuana, since
that's criminal? [Federally]
Defense:
Producers may require nudity,
or something else they're
uncomfortable with, under the
First Amendment. Judge:
I have relatives in the movie
business
More on X for
Subscribers here &
Substack here
The case
is McSweeney v. Cohen, et al.,
24-cv-1503 (Liman)
***
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