Author: Seth Abramovitch

The family of an Arizona man whose suicide was carried live on the air by Fox News Channel last September is suing the cable network.

Read the complaint here.

According to the complaint filed by Angela Rodriguez, the mother of JoDon Romero‘s three sons, aged 9, 13 and 15, the boys have suffered extreme emotional distress after seeing online video of their father pressing a handgun to his head and pulling the trigger. News Corp., Fox Entertainment Group and Fox News Network are named as plaintiffs in the complaint.

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The footage had aired live on Fox News and was seen by millions of horrified viewers. Fox News covered the dramatic events across multiple programs on Sept. 28, 2012, as Romero led police on an 80-mile chase, during which he fired at squad cars and news helicopters. It was during Studio B With Shepard Smith that Romero, 32, exited his vehicle in the desert near Salome, Ariz., ran down a dirt road, tumbled, then stood up and shot himself in the head, to an audible gasp in the newsroom.

Host Shepard Smith, who had been narrating the coverage, shouted at the control room, “Get off, get off, get off, get off, get off, get off, get off — get off it, get off it, get off it!” A flustered Smith returned after a commercial break to explain that the network had “really messed up and we’re all very sorry.” Fox senior vice president Michael Clemente later released a statement explaining that “severe human error” has failed to censor the footage.

The suit states that the local Fox News affiliate successfully ran the delay, preventing Phoenix viewers from watching the suicide live. But it ran live in most other markets, and was on YouTube within minutes. According to the lawsuit, Romero’s three sons were at school during the pursuit.

“Rumor of a suicide broadcast on live television generated considerable buzz among the students at the school, particularly with respect to the two older boys,” the suit reads. 

“After school, the older boys went home and began looking for the suicide on the Internet,” the suit continues. The two boys then searched out the footage on YouTube and “as they watched, they realized in horror that they were watching their father.”

Neither of the older two children has returned to school since viewing their father’s death on YouTube, the complaint says. It then quotes an examining psychologist who found them to demonstrate “symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder that included flashbacks, repeated thoughts and feelings associated with viewing the video of their father shooting himself in the head, re-experiencing trauma, sleep disturbance, and intrusive thoughts.”

“This psychological trauma is substantial and long-term. It will, upon information and belief, require long-term psychiatric and/or psychological treatment,” writes Joel Robbins and Anne Findling, attorneys for the Romero family. The causes of action are intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The complaint seeks unspecified damages “to the extent permitted by law.”

The case essentially poses an invasion-of-privacy theory, albeit one that’s difficult to prove since Romero carried out his actions in public and not in his home.

Fox News tells The Hollywood Reporter that it won’t comment on pending litigation.

E-mail: seth.abramovitch@thr.com
Twitter: @SethAbramovitch

They became instantly famous on Friday’s episode of Gordon Ramsay‘s Kitchen Nightmares, a mercurial couple named Amy and Samy Bouzaglatell, who were featured cussing-out customers and allegedly hoarding tips left for the servers who work at their Scottsdale, Ariz., restaurant, Amy’s Baking Company Bakery Boutique & Bistro.

The Bozagiatells were so impudent, in fact, that Ramsay stormed out on them, deeming them the first case in Kitchen Nightmares history to be beyond salvation.

And once upon a time, that would have been the end of the story. But in today’s social media-obsessed world, it was just the beginning. 

In the hours and days that followed, outraged viewers took to popular message boards like Reddit and Yelp to mock, bash and, according to one Fox 10 news report, even make death threats against the small-business owners.

Hardly the types to take that kind of criticism lying down, the Bouzagiatells have posted a series of angry, over-the-top responses to their detractors, many in all-caps, on their Facebook page.

The responses themselves have begun to go viral across the Internet.

A sampling:

“You people are all sh-t. Yelp shit, Reddits sh-t. Every shit. Come to here, I will f—ing show you all.”

“This is Samy. I am keeping note of all names here. We will be pursuing action against you legaly, and against reddit and yelp, for this plot you have come together on. you are all just punks.”

“To all of the Yelpers and Reddits: Bring it on. you are just pussies. come to arizona. you are weaker than my wife, and weaker than me. come to my business. say it to my face. man to man. my wife is a jewel in the desert. you are just trash.reddits and yelpers just working together to bring us down. pathetic.”

“I AM WONDER WOMAN. I AM A GREAT CHEF, A GREAT WIFE, AND A GREAT MOM TO MY KIDS. AND WE WILL BE PARENTS TO A HUMAN KID, ONE DAY TO. WE WILL SHOW ALL OF YOU.”

“WE DO NOT NEED THIS. YOU STUPID PEOPLE. AMERICA IS ABOUT RESSLING, IT IS NOT A BIG DEAL. THE CAKES WE OFFER ARE EXPENSIVE BECAUSE WE HAVE TO REPACKAGE AND SHIP. DO NOT BLAME US BECAUSE YOU CAN NOT AFFORD QUALITY. THE YELPERS, AND NOW THE REDDITS, NEED TO BACK OFF. YOURE NOT RIGHT JUST BECAUSE OF SOME TV SHOW.”

“WE ARE NOT FREAKING OUT. WE DO NOT CARE ABOUT A “WITCH HUNT” I AM NOT A WITCH. I AM GODS CHILD. PISS OFF ALL OF YOU. FUCK REDDITS, FUCK YELP AND FUCK ALL OF YOU. BRING IT. WE WILL FIGHT BACK.”

It has been a rough week for many in Hollywood who make their living making TV, and Matthew Perry is among them. NBC canceled his freshman sitcom, Go On, as part of a massive housecleaning effort in a bid to gain viewers. 

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But did sports reporter Dan Moriarty know about that when he interviewed Perry at an L.A. Kings game? Hopefully not, as Moriarty brings up the delicate subject by asking, “So, big news today and congratulations is in order.”

“Oh, thank you,” a nonplussed Perry replies. “You mean because of the show getting canceled. It was sort of a sad day because of the people and I’m going to miss them. But this show was really getting in the way of some Kings games, so I’m OK.”

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“So it’s a double-edged sword congratulations,” Moriarty recovers, barely.

Moriarty, whose Twitter handle was displayed at the start of the interview, has yet to tweet about the exchange.