http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/69383.htm -- GI'S BIG FAT SUIT VS. MOORE By JENNIFER FERMINO May 31, 2006 -- EXCLUSIVE A double-amputee Iraq-war vet is suing Michael Moore for $85 million, claiming the portly peacenik recycled an old interview and used it out of context to make him appear anti-war in "Fahrenheit 9/11." Sgt. Peter Damon, 33, who strongly supports America's invasion of Iraq, said he never agreed to be in the 2004 movie, which trashes President Bush. In the 2003 interview, which he did at Walter Reed Army Hospital for NBC News, he discussed only a new painkiller the military was using on wounded vets. "They took the clip because it was a gut-wrenching scene," Damon said yesterday. "They sandwiched it in. [Moore] was using me as ammunition." Damon seems to "voice complaint about the war effort" in the movie, according to the lawsuit. But what the father of two from Middleborough, Mass., was really talking about was the "excruciating" pain he felt after he lost his arms when a Black Hawk helicopter exploded in front of him. Damon wasn't expressing any opinion about the war, the suit charges, but rather extolling the drug. "I just want everybody to know what kind of a guy Michael Moore is, and what kind of film this is," said Damon. He has appeared in two films attacking "Fahrenheit" -"Michael Moore Hates America" and "Fahrenhype 9/11." In "Fahrenheit 9/11," the bandaged National Guardsman is shown laying on a gurney complaining that he feels like he's "being crushed in a vise. But they [the drugs] do a lot to help it and they take a lot of the edge off it." His image appears seconds after Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) says, "You know, they say they're not leaving any veterans behind, but they're leaving all kinds of veterans behind." Damon - the dad of a 8-year-old girl and 4-year-old boy - doesn't come close to feeling that way. "He couldn't have picked the worst guy to say that about," he told The Post. "I'm the most fortunate disabled guy. I've even had a house built for me [by a nonprofit group, Home for Our Troops]." Particularly outrageous to Damon is the fact that Moore never interviewed him or asked his permission to use the old clip. "I was complaining about the pain I would've been having [if it weren't for the painkiller]," he said. NBC is named in the suit - which was filed in Suffolk County, Mass., on Friday - along with Harvey and Robert Weinstein, Miramax Corp., Lions Gate Films and other production companies involved with the picture. Newsman Brian Williams ends the NBC clip by adding, "These men, with catastrophic wounds are . . . completely behind the war effort," according to the lawsuit. That part, which wasn't shown in the Moore movie, is a far more accurate depiction of Damon's feelings, he said. Lawyer Dennis Lynch said he took the case last year and they held off filing the lawsuit in a bid to settle the matter. "We attempted to resolve the situation amicably with Mr. Moore [for a year] but he refused," he said. Damon is asking for up to $75 million because of "loss of reputation, emotional distress, embarrassment, and personal humiliation." In addition, his wife is suing for another $10 million because of the "mental distress and anguish suffered by her spouse." Spokeswomen for NBC and Harvey and Robert Weinstein would not comment because they haven't seen the suit. Lions Gate doesn't comment on pending litigation, a rep said. Michael Moore and Miramax reps didn't return calls for comment.
I thought your President was supposed to do something about lawsuits like this, basso? The interview did not belong to him. He has no case against Moore, but he might have one against NBC.
"another example of the legal system run amuck" Hope he cashes in. This will strike a serious blow to Michael Moore & NBC....... insurance coverage.
I call BS! Any director worth his salt will always demand that anyone used in films like this sign a waver before one frame is shot just for this very reason. This does not pass the smell test.
you're assuming MM is worth his salt...certainly in raw tonnage he is, i guess, but the point is, he used NS footage, and edited it.
I don't think so, in this case. The guy agreed to the interview with NBC, so the footage is now the rights of NBC to show, sell, etc. I'm not sure why the guy is suing NBC, especially if his concern was the distortion - NBC's broadcast didn't distort his position. I also don't know what his claim would be against Moore and company.
Yes! I read the story wrong. I thought MM had interviewed the guy for the movie, not lifted the clip from another interview. My bad. Still, one would think that Moore would have experience in this with the kind of movies he makes and wouldn't leave himself open for somethng like this.
I really have nothing to add, except this myu first successful crackberry post, whoot! Via opera mini, mini.opera.com
This guy is going to be one rich SOB.....they will request a jury trial, and what jury would side with NBC or Michael Moore over a double amputee war vet? And, if what he was saying was used out of context, there is plenty of merit for his suite. DD
I don't know if the guy has grounds for a suit or not, but it would be ****ty of Moore if he edited it to miscontrue the man's statements. Having not seen the movie, I have to wonder if he was falsely portrayed.
I don't get it. How could this not be talking about his injury? I am not familiar with scene, but I assume the "[the drugs]" part was added for the story anf the film dsoesn't mention drugs? If so, I would still think that meant that the hospital is helping ease the pain. Maybe I am not reading everything correctly.
I have seen the movie, and you are exactly correct Rimbaud. Mr. Damon is talking about his injuries, and the drugs he takes to ease his pain. He appears as a wounded vet. He does not come off as a war critic. This lawsuit has no merit.
Michael Moore's also isn't a journalist and while he is making a documentary he's under no journalistic obligation to not slant his material. .
Moore's slanted documentary is similar to the rules of engagement Waco incident in which the Clinton administration appears as ruthless imperialists willing to run over folks with fighting vehicles in the fight against individual right and might...It is what it is, slanted made to look, feel and taste like the truth, but it is so very far from when examined with an ounce of intelligence... Documentaries are the great crusade of media persuasion at it's pervasiveness. Just like Waco, just like Wrestling in Shadows, the side you want to hear depends on a point of view nothing more nothing less. Some truth, some false, some mixture to varying degrees...
