Jack Thompson Targets Webcomic For ...Parody
Jack Thompson Targets Webcomic For ...Parody
September 24, 2007
Miami attorney Jack Thompson has apparently threatened to rain some legal fire on webcomic My Extra Life and its author, Scott Johnson.Scott's crime? He's running a Jack Thompson PhotoShop Contest:
Jack Thompson actually gave me a "cease and desist" Not any sort of official or legal one, mind you, but he did indeed send me the following this morning:
Subject: You have one hour to cease and desist
...Since anyone with half a mind knows he has no legal basis to say anything to me about anything, especially something as dumb and satirical as a Photoshop Contest, it becomes more the matter of do I respond at all, say anything, do this post, etc. and give him the additional exposure he seems to crave among the gaming crowd...
Why would a person sit in front of a computer and search... all day to see if people are saying your name? Why would a person care about a photoshop contest to the degree that they make threats...? Why would a Florida bar certified lawyer even bother with our stupid little mom and pop shop here?
GP: Speaking of Jack Thompson parodies, what ever happened to last Friday's 5PM deadline for Rockstar to remove the attorney mission from GTA4?
Answer: Nothing, because there is no case there.
Thompson, who is so enamored of his own visage that he routinely cites his television appearances in court filings, seemingly has not adapted so well to the flipside of being a public figure - that one is subject to criticism and parody.
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if you wanted to create the image of a professional, mature, concerned citizen protecting the people around you from disgusting, vulgar trash, then you've missed. instead, you look silly.
senator yee maybe thinks that videogames are an important issue for parents who vote -so for him making some noise about the ESRB and stuff maybe helps his career, and put's his name is positive light for voters because it looks like he's doing something for familes or whatever...
maybe Thompson has something similar going on and wants to get his name associated with anti-games stuff.. maybe he hopes to be like the type of 'pundit' that would appear on news with Chris Matthews (more frequently) as a fake expert with a 'take' on videogames issues... maybe he wants to write a book or something like that
in order to accomplish these goals... he would want to generate some positive press about himself (probably trying to block Halo 3 instead of any other game is a publicity move)... if he wants to become like the "Dr. Phil" of videogames.
as far as i can tell, he doesn't get a lot of positive press... but he does get some negative press from the gaming community....
maybe something that Thompson would really like is an on-line feature or an NY-times op-ed that praises his efforts or at least mentions him favorably... as far as i can tell, nothing like that exists... so a parody photoshop contest probably hurts
it's noteworthy that when there's senator yee coverage, the reaction from gamers seems to more like "i disagree with that guy" or "he has it wrong" rather than....
"he sucks... what an @$$hole... he's doing WHAT?" -which is usually the Thompson reaction
- - - - -
ps: my personal hope is that Thompson one day has some kind of about-face and decides to use his talents to be a 'champion' for freedom of expression in games or gamers-rights or something like that (not very likely).... but if he did something like this total reversal it might be a great way to turn his bad pr (or lack of good pr) situation around
Nevermind them, I'm rather shocked raiders like *chan haven't had fun with yet, especially after the attacks on Hal Turner. Granted, they're not anyone's personal army, but he has been asking for it for some years now. Or did it happen already? Or maybe they respect what could be the greatest troll on the net? *muses*
Or is he?
"Video Gamer: What is a brain?"
Mr Thompson, I suggest you rent the movie "The People vs. Larry Flint" There is a potion of that movie that should explain how parodies and other harmless ridicule of media and public figures is allowed by law, because obviously this was not covered in your law classes.
"Oy vey"
Anyway, this is just silliness. No question. He should be actually RESEARCHING facts about violence in video games, instead of furiously masturbating every time a website mentions him on Google. Blech.
Jack's really gone off the deep end...
It's called obsession (NO, not the perfume, silly boy). He's addicted to... his own name!
"Why would a person care about a photoshop contest to the degree that they make threats…? "
I was going to simply put it down to him being a cry-baby, but quite frankly, he fits the stereotype of a Bully more than anything. Willing to dish out all sorts of verbal (spoken AND written) and mental abuse (I'll ASSUME he has crossed the line into other forms of abuse) against others, but when it comes to receiving it... well, we've seen his response over the last few years.
So much for his FALSE claim to support Freedom of Speech. What's his argument against that? He'll probably say that parody is slander/libel. BUT, his lawsuit in Federal Court that suggests his verbal (spoken AND written) and mental abuse against others (with his religious beliefs as a foundation) should be protected by Freedom of Speech contridicts that stance. In other words, his own actions show that he believes it's acceptable to treat others abusively in the name of his religion, but to make jokes about HIM isn't protected speech.
It would be hilarious if that were introduced at any court that he tried to file suit against anyone for parody against him.
John Bruce: Judge! They made fun of me! :: Sticks out bottom lip. ::
Opposing Attorney: :: Holds out copy of John Bruce's Federal lawsuit mentioned above. ::
Judge (To John Bruce): Get a Life and Grow the Hell Up.
John Bruce: :: Throws himself on the floor kicking and screaming. :: It's not fair! It's not fair! God is on MY side. God is on MY side!
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
Judge: "...Mr. Thompson, I'm afraid this court cannot accept your assertion that essentially saying 'Quit it!' has legal weight, as it were."
Jacko: "But it's *me* saying it, so it counts!"
Judge: "..."
he is no better than an Islamic suicide bomber.
This is all funny, but there are other fake law things that will never go through for you to do that are just funnier for us to watch. Bring a suit up against Nintendo that their Wii console is attempting to turn the youth of America into sex fiends because Wii sounds like it could be slang for penis. Well all get a good laugh and go home and you can get on the news some more. Either way everyone goes home happy.
Jack, did you know that your little ego-boosting schenanigans is MASTURBATION- in line with your very own definition? And you know what God does to people who masturbate...
Obviously nothing, so far. Otherwise, I'd be long dead.
TMI???
And the slide into obscurity continues...
Some (most?) Christians believe that it is a sin and you will go to hell for it.
I guess Jack Thompson has never heard the story of the boy who cried wolf.
I see what you did there, and i like it.
Than I'm convinced that these Christians you speak of are self-loathers. For as my personal hero, George Carlin, once said:
"Only someone who hates himself would refer to the pleasures of masturbation as 'Self-abuse'."
You have to be if your a Christian lawyer.
"You want them charged for... donating money to charity?"
Now that is a great idea. If they had a South Park episode about Jack Thompson I would really tape that episode to pop into my vcr whenever I want to get a really good laugh just like the Michael Jackson episode. Yet Jack Thompson would go furious and start harrassing the company that is in charge of having South Park on the air. I thing that they should have the episode anyway.
When I was unsure of who it was, I replied with the following:
"If you are the real Jack Thompson, then I should be getting a LEGAL cease and desist letter from you, not some anonymous comment in a blog post. So since I did not get that. And since I don’t think you are him at all, then the answer is no.
Nice try though…made me giggle.
Scott"
To which he then replied:
"Ok, your mistake. Laugh your ass off"
Phoenix:
Funny how Jack doesn't even know how to file a proper cease and desist paper so he just goes about like a middle schooler and posts about it in a blog....I guess that shows that he really is immature...but we already knew that.
Just like Baby Construction.. And Harry Potter..
Don't forget the "impure thoughts"- you go to hell just for thinking!
Yeah, those bastards are always on your arse..
Personally, I'd rather see him on an episode of "Penn & Teller: Bullshit!". Now that would be a good episode for P&T to do: the Video Game Controversy. And you know they could get Jack to appear. Sure, he'd get raked over the coals like never before in his life, but this guy cannot say no to the spotlight, so I'm positive he'd accept.
Jack: Jack Thompson, Miami attorney and video game violence expert.
Penn: (VO) And then there's THIS asshole!!!
Ooh, I want that! I'd tape it and watch it every single day!
It's finally had enough...
-Mike Schwinger
Still unable to take a fucking joke.
Chalk up another failure for JT.
History, Joke Thompson. It prevents you from repeating mistakes.
We tend to hold lawyers to a certain degree of professionalism and JT has exhibited none of that, and it's one of the reasons why he ought to be disbarred. How he can act that way boggles my mind as well. There are probably other lawyers out there who are just as unprofessional (scary as the thought of that may be), but because he's been the most visible, his behavior is big black smear on the already tarnished reputation lawyers have. Plktrn's analogy to "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" BTW is a remarkably apt one.
@Artem & Spartan Michael
I'm suprised Trey Parker and Matt Stone haven't skewered Thompson yet after all this time, especially when you consider South Park was also in his crossharis some years back and usually Parker and Stone are pretty quick to make fun of anyone who criticizes or speaks ill of them. For that matter I'm also waiting for Seth Macfarlane to take a few potshots at him on Family Guy. Or for that matter Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb on Xplay (considering Adam's confrontation with him last year). I don't know why they haven't yet, but a possible reason why coud be because they feel he already does a good job of making fun of himself.
You haven't earned that right.
Thompson is far more violent and likely to make a threat on you using the law than simply talk to you like an reasonable human being, in many ways, he's the walking epitome of everything he claims Video Games turn people into, incapable of original thought or action, and merely parroting a set of actions repeated time and time again without remorse or guilt.
"So.. how many people actually went to look at the Photoshop Competition?"
I did! I started saving all of the photoshops in a folder on my desktop. My favorites so far include a Super Mario Bros. screencap with Thompson's head photoshopped over Bowser's, and another of Resident Evil 4 where Jackie has joined the Los Ganados in attacking Leon.
Maybe he thinks he's doing his own version of David and Goliath, although frankly, I'm more inclined to think it's more like David and Galactus.
I personally think the GTA one is the best. I mean, we all know the old wanker's done that to someone..
They did this:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/10/14
And this:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/01/05
Can't speak for everyone, but empty threats like "...or else" don't really establish credibility in my eyes.
With that in mind, someone should do a photoshop of Master Chief smacking JT with his rifle butt. It's what he deserves. ;)
just wait a few minutes for the howling to stop lol
"Crackpot lawyer makes empty threat to web site"
Jack Thompson is a hypocrite.
Jack Thompson is a bully.
Wolfenstien? I thought it was Doom..
This was when GP was on livejournal:
"You post anonymously at this site at your own great peril.
You've been warned. Now we're going to see how smart you really are. We know how dumb Dennis McCauley is. He put you in this bind when he went to LiveJournal. Really, really dumb. "
Wonder what happened with that? :)
See, if he actually found out who I was, he'd have one countersuit from me, one from my employers and another thrown in from me, just to make him realise what it feels like.
You can wager he'd also have the US Government and/or Military on him through some posters.
But, as usual, he was talking out of his arse.
What a loser. At some point the "any press is good press" stuff loses its appeal.
I thought it was Doom at first glance, but the actual Minigun-wielding Robo-Hitler was the end Boss of Wolfenstein, they were both based on more or less the same engine anyway :)
"Again Dennis Mcaully gets it wrong again" comment from Jack, something IS wrong!
You can't be in the public spot light and not expect someone (if not the majority/all) lampoon you, your believes, your ethics, or even those that know you.
Yee's approach is not insulting, derogatory or rude. He clearly stated his position and most of us just go "I disagree" or "I agree". Thompson started out with some good points, but he quickly sank into a swamp of hyperbole and personal attacks thus alienating the only people who could really support his cause: Us.
The gaming community has a lot of (probably too much) time and energy on our hands and Thompson's attacks on them has turned the community at large against him. Thompson himself just put this contest on the map.
There are times that I'm so glad I'm your brother.
I'll bet his wife told him to stop, in order to stop piling up the evidence against his sanity. If true, we know who really has the balls in that relationship.
"You must cease and desist informing people of my stupidity and of their rights as citizens. WHAAAAA!"
Jack? Sane? LMAO. Oh, he's sane cause his old college buddy the shrink said so, I forgot.
"That’s it - I’m printing off a full-facial image of JT’s face and making a mask of it. I will wear this mask tonight as I wait for midnight and my copy of Halo 3. Jack can then sue me for impersonating him and defaming him, or whatever other legal bullshit he can come up with."
what a great idea! maybe ill do that for halloween.
just be careful he doesn't try to sue for impersonation!
You heard it here folks, he has reached his prime of being his own parody that he'll have to sue himself.
Oh, he's grown up, just his brain is still catching up
I'd do the same, but instead I'd take the picture and put in on my dart board. ;)
This is gonna be tough to live down, JT...
Wasn't that movie based on the PS2 game that came out not too long ago? :P
@Meggie:
Well didn't you know? Countdowns are the new black!
@zerodash:
Calm before the storm? *shrug* well the less we hear of him, the better I say.
At one point it was kinda of like the Jack articles were the "comic" section of this site, but now its just getting old. He has run his course and he has done nothing...All these recent stunts are are desperate attempts for attention and you are giving him just that.
You wanted the spotlight, now you have it. It isn't so bright under there, now is it?
@Dennis
I really enjoy GP, but I'm tired of hearing about Jack and his faux lawsuits. Could you please for everyone's sake, stop giving this attention-hog attention? Just be sure to cover his disbarrment, and if he has something that is actually being taken seriously (I know hard thing to believe, isn't it?).
Personally, I'd say do a story on him if he actually followed through for once and got into court with someone related to the industry. This constant reporting of mundane items about Jack that has little real relevance to the industry is out of control in my opinion.
GP seems to give JT the most attention... correct me if I'm wrong, but what other sites are out there that publish Jack's nonsense every other day? Little to none?
I've been going here since the San Andreas HC fire broke out, and honestly, I'd rather have GP punch out the articles at a slower rate than having 2-3 irrelevant JT stories for every REAL article pertaining to the industry.
I love your work Dennis, you've done a wonderful job with GP, but I share the concern about the saturation of JT "non-news" that is ruining this site. I know I'm only one visitor, but if this gets much worse I'll probably stop coming over here, you might as well sell GP to Jack at that rate though since it's slowly been turning into "Jack Thompson's bulletin board also featuring other news".
But you know better than I do about running GP, so I could always be wrong as well.
Just thought I'd share that, you've always been fair to us and honest, so I thought it was my turn now to be honest for a moment, hopefully I was fair about it.
"If I were to threaten microsoft with lawsuits would I be on here too?"
That's a good point actually. Jack Thompson was "just an attorney" but after recent features of him done by the media, he became somewhat famous especially among gamers like us. Because if you think about it, why would a lawyer be popular in the first place? (unless of course you're Ally Mcbeal XD)
But somehow, I also understand why Dennis post these kinds of news. After all, it's the theme of his site: "Where video games and politics collide." Most of Dennis' write ups about Thompson were news worthy, but purely in my opinion, I think news like this is somewhat irrelevant and it's getting quite tiresome. I mean, Jack's cause in this is a lost cause in the first place. But sometimes, it's hard to decipher which ones are newsworthy so I can understand why news like these come out. But hey, if there's one journalist that I haven't met face to face yet I give lot of respect, its gotta be Dennis from GP. His news here are unbiased that's why I keep checking this site out almost everyday.
Let's just hope we won't hear a news story like "Jack Thompson seen dating Lindsay Lohan." Now that's very sidetracked to the site's theme. (Although that could be interesting to see in the showbiz section of other sites. Poor Lindsay though) XD
If you don't care about Jack's every trip to the ladies' room it's very easy to skip over any articles about him, and even if you do inadvertently end up glancing over one of the more irrelevant stories about him, it probably isn't going to be the least productive 60 seconds of your life.
Also if you do see JT as "gamer enemy #1" then the best thing to do is discredit him by drawing attention to boneheaded moves like this one. Spotlight or not he is not going away, so long as he can practice law he is going to keep filing lawsuits against games. That means like it or not, he is still relevant, closing our collective eyes and humming real loud isn't going make that go away.
And as one of the more prominent and outspoken proponents of anti-video game legislation, anything stupid that he does reflects badly on the movement as a whole.
If Jack gets disbarred, runs out of blood-related minors to run sting operations with, and can't manage to beat out a local soccer mom for a spot on an MSNBC panel, then I would start to be concerned if we continued to get weekly updates on his menstrual cycle. But for now I appreciate Dennis's continued coverage of him.
"If you don’t care about Jack’s every trip to the ladies’ room it’s very easy to skip over any articles about him"
- I understand what you're saying and I respect that, but what we're just trying to say is that news like this is a little off the hook, at least for some people that think of it that way like I do. This is actually Jack v.s Photoshop contest not Jack v.s video games, whereas the theme of the site is "where politics and video games collide."
"Also if you do see JT as “gamer enemy #1? then the best thing to do is discredit him by drawing attention to boneheaded moves like this one."
- Yeah it's true for this case. It's indeed a "bonehead" move and presenting him like this is a nice way of showing the public what kind of lawyer Thompson is. However, for me, seeing news like this is somewhat getting tiresome. After all, GP posted a lot of news about Jack doing something like this and this is not something new. It's just that I guess I'm a little concerned about the angling of Jack Thompson news these days. Maybe its just me.
"But for now I appreciate Dennis’s continued coverage of him."
-Yep, we all do, don't we?
Can you spell hypocrite?
"GP seems to give JT the most attention… correct me if I’m wrong, but what other sites are out there that publish Jack’s nonsense every other day? Little to none?"
With the sort of personal history Dennis has with Thompson, he has every right to do so. After all, it's his site. And he doesn't get more money based on the number of hits anyway, so there's no real reason for him NOT to post it.
"Also if you do see JT as “gamer enemy #1? then the best thing to do is discredit him by drawing attention to boneheaded moves like this one. Spotlight or not he is not going away, so long as he can practice law he is going to keep filing lawsuits against games. That means like it or not, he is still relevant, closing our collective eyes and humming real loud isn’t going make that go away."
Thats the thing I haven't seen JT as "gamer enemy #1" for a long time now. Sure he tries, but it NEVER amounts to anything. When there was a possibility of his attempts actually doing something I could understand it. Heck even when it was first obvious he wasn't doing anything I could, because he could get a lucky turn around. Though now with his career in its current state I really don't see the reason Dennis has so many articles about him.
"And as one of the more prominent and outspoken proponents of anti-video game legislation, anything stupid that he does reflects badly on the movement as a whole. "
So because he is loud and I'm guessing sends Dennis 10 articles a day about his sad attempts we have it hear 1 a day? I mean thank god Dennis doesn't publish everything JT sends his way, but still...
I dunno it just appears to me like JT's time is over and done with(if he really ever had a time). If I were him I'd be worried about keeping my job not trying to get 10 silly articles out a day. Something about "Jack Thompson former lawyer who got disbarred because of his stupid and disrepectful stunts" doesn't have the same something...
I dunno I'm just getting tired of all the JT silliness. I'm sure he does something insane at least once a day...and while it was amusing for awhile now its just blah. I think I stopped caring back when he went at that fastfood joint saying it was in with the video game industry....
At the risk of giving myself a cheap plug here, I've had a strict "No Jack Thompson" policy on my blog ever since he butted in on the Virgina Tech Massacre. At the time, I wasn't updating all that much and when I took a look at the front page, I noticed that every other post I'd done was about Jack Thompson. It was then that I realized what it is that Jack wants, and that I was giving him EXACTLY that. So I decided that from then on, anything I posted would NOT be about Thompson, unless it was something major (him being disbarred, committing suicide, etc.)
So yeah, don't fall into his trap, Dennis. Don't let him turn Gamepolitics into the John B. Thompson Blog. His main goal is to get his face on everything and have his name all over the place. He doesn't need to have that.
Thanks for the great website, Jack.
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t64/Coyoteesharptongue/phantomzone.jp...
Sure, it is a cheap paint horrible job....but I laughed.
I find it rather humorous that JT's primary value as a human being is as a laughing stock.
"Cease and desist this parody or there will be repercussions!"
"No."
"Uh, lots of repercussions! Lots!"
"No."
When you spend your time (unsuccessfully) harassing webcomic artists, I think its time to pack it in.
"…..He’s on trial or going to be on trial right?"
He's facing a possible disbarrment by the Florida BAR for misconduct.
"Well….why is he targeting a contest instead of building an actual case?"
Because JT's priorities are very out of whack, and he feels that video games are more important to go after, then dealing with his own case which could very well end his career as an attorney. I hope he is disbarred, I can't stand his arrogant smugness, makes me sick (and to know I live the same state as the man. Ugh.).
http://blackvatican.com/?p=156
HMM.
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