Frasier Crane gets into some pretty bizarre situations on TV, but that's nothing compared to Thursday's revelatons about the tube shrink's real-life alter ego Kelsey Grammer, with the unsealing of a lawsuit the actor filed--and later dropped--against a high-profile Internet pornography publisher.
Several weeks ago, Grammer sued Seattle-based Internet Entertainment Group--prominent in the news (and the courts) for publishing the Pamela and Tommy Lee sex tape as well as nude photos of radio talk show moralist Dr. Laura Schlessinger.
Grammer claimed a homemade videotape of him having sex with a woman--identified in the suit only as "Filmed Female"--was stolen from his home and that private investigators determined it was IEG "agents" who did the lifting, with intention of making the tape available on the Web on a pay-per-view basis.
Well, IEG didn't post the tape--but it did post the lawsuit Thursday, on its Club Love Website (www.clublove.com).
In the suit, Grammer admitted to creating a video of himself and his gal-pal "voluntarily engaging in sexual and intimate relations...with the intention [of the tape] forever remaining for his entirely private and confidential use."
The sealed lawsuit became public this week, after IEG President Seth Warshavsky denied having such a tape and countersued Grammer and after, as IEG puts it, Grammer dropped his complaint "like a red-hot crack pipe."
Now comes the latest volley from Washavsky, who isn't inclined to let this kind of thing die easily. He fired back Thursday by posting Grammer's lawsuit--and a lengthy diatribe against the actor, who has had very public bouts with alcohol and drug addiction.
"Scumbags don't always end up in jail or in politics," IEG says on its site. "Frasier star Kelsey Grammer has a string of Emmys to his credit, as well as a woeful trail of drunk-driving and cocaine arrests, skipped court appearances, drug rehab sob stories, public allegations of sexual misconduct...and tasteless box office bombs."
And Warshavsky's attack doesn't end there. He tells the New York Post, "We have been presented with another Kelsey Grammer tape. But we have no plans to air it. We are still evaluating it at this time."
As to the alleged contents of that alleged tape, Warshavsky wouldn't say. Still, perhaps anxious to get back into court, IEG includes a parody of what it "imagines" such a tape might include.
This conjecture--titled "Kelsey Grammer, Butt-Plugged Mensch or Wench?"--features Grammer performing solo sex acts with himself while wearing women's clothing and includes an image of Grammer superimposed with a pink bra.
"We put this bra on Kelsey. Did he put one on himself?" the caption asks.
No comment yet from Grammer.