Jack Ass Blasts "Jackass"
You might think that someone named Jack Ass would have pretty thick skin when it comes to attacks upon his reputation.
But you would be wrong.
A Montana man who legally changed his name to Jack Ass in 1997 (to raise awareness of the perils of drunk driving) says Jackass, the controversial MTV stunt-fest and subsequent film, has besmirched his sterling reputation, and he's not gonna take it.
Mr. Ass, n? Bob Craft, has filed a $10 million lawsuit against Viacom, claiming the music network's parent company is responsible for "injury to a reputation I have built and defamation of a character I have created" with the conglomerate's Johnny Knoxville-led gross-out series and flick.
Ass' petition, available in its entiretly at The Smoking Gun Website, was filed in a Montana district court in November.
A MTV rep said the network does not comment on pending litigation.
Making the success of his dubious claim even more unlikely, Ass is representing himself in the case.
But that's not stopping him from trying. He became an active opponent of drunk driving when his brother died in an accident in 1997. That year, he changed his name, created a character name Andi Ass and launched a Website (www.andiass.com) and a line of T-shirts, hats and souvenir beer bottles promoting safe drinking and bearing the slogan, "Be a smart ass, not a dumb ass."
In the suit, Ass shared Andi Ass' message in poetry form:
"Looking from what comes from Andi and Jack's voices,You will see we promote positive and accountable choices,
It is not the beer that ever causes you harm,
It's yourself connected to the drink on the end of your arm." Ass also keeps busy with another philanthropic effort called Hearts Across America, which hawks heart-shaped markers. All of these things, he claims, have been tainted by the Jackass TV show and movie. And the $10 million, apparently, will help salvage his name and cause. "I really want to emphasize the importance of this work," he told Reuters.
Though this is perhaps the most unique blast against the defunct MTV series (it ran through 2000 and 2001 before Knoxville called it quits) and $60 million-making film, it is most certainly not the first. The show has been hit with other lawsuits and much criticism after teens around the country tried to replicate the dangerous stunts and bizarre practical jokes.
A New Mexico teen died in early December trying to copy a stunt in the film, and a Seattle teen suffered severe burns when imitating the TV show in November. And in 2001, several other kids were hospitalized for trying to pull off a Knoxvillian stunt, including one boy who was burned when his friends poured gas on his legs and set him on fire and two teenagers who tried to outrun a moving car. Even one of Knoxville's own pranksters, model Stephanie Hodges, broke her back and fractured her pelvis in a TV stunt gone awry.
Senator Joseph Lieberman took MTV to task in 2001 for Jackass' effect on impressionable teens. "MTV is an enormously influential force in the world our children inhabit, and with that power and the right to exercise it comes a certain level of responsibility," he said.
And with this latest lawsuit, it seems Jack Ass couldn't agree with him more.
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