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发帖数: 129 | 1 http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/11/jimmel-kim
China-born New Jersey resident says he suffers emotional distress since skit
aired.
(Photo: AP)
Story Highlights
A skit on Kimmel's late-night show featured a child suggesting killing
everyone in China as solution to the U.S. debt problem
Cao Guoliang alleges negligence and infliction of emotional distress in
lawsuit
Lawsuit says Kimmel failed to suppress 'hateful and offensive remark'
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NEW BRUNSWICK — It's not every day that a late-night talk show host's joke
becomes a matter of international relations — or the subject of a lawsuit.
But an Edison, N.J., man is taking ABC host Jimmy Kimmel and the network's
parent company, Disney, to court over a skit in which a 6-year-old boy
suggested killing everyone in China as a solution to the U.S. debt problem.
The Oct. 16 segment led China's Foreign Ministry to demand an apology, which
the network and Kimmel did at least three times. Even the White House
weighed in, condemning the segment but defending freedom of speech, after
more than 100,000 people signed an online petition asking for "Jimmy Kimmel
Live!" to be taken off the air.
Although ABC pulled the plug on any future "Kids' Table" segments on the
show, the offending joke continues to be a problem for the company.
Cao Guoliang, who was born in China, filed a complaint in December in
Superior Court in New Brunswick alleging negligence and infliction of
emotional distress.
Cao's complaint says that he "was deeply shocked, offended, and outraged at
the comment to kill all everyone in China since that is his home country and
Jimmy Kimmel failed to suppress such a hateful and offensive remark."
The complaint says ABC "should have understood the distress the exchange
about killing everyone in China would have on persons of Chinese descent and
edited it out."
Kimmel "further victimized persons ... by saying that he would not have made
such comments towards African Americans."
As a result of the segment, Cao says he "suffers substantial and enduring
emotional distress including, but not limited to, nervousness, anxiety and
loss of sense of self-worth. "
He is suing for unspecified damages, including for mental and emotional
distress, medical and related expenses, punitive damages and legal fees.
A spokeswoman for ABC referred questions to a show publicist, who did not
immediately return a request for comment Monday.
This is not the first time that a late-night show landed in court.
In 2012, Jay Leno and NBC faced a libel complaint after a skit on "The
Tonight Show" used an image of a Sikh temple to represent presidential
candidate Mitt Romney's summer vacation home.
Leno was hit with another lawsuit last year — by a woman who said the show
wrongly accused her of bestiality after the host joked about a news report
in which the former flight attendant was accused of smuggling rats in her
underwear.
Also last year, Donald Trump sued the host of HBO's "Real Time with Bill
Maher" for $5 million after Maher failed to make good on a joke that he
would pay the sum if Trump could prove that he was not the son of an
orangutan.
Cao is represented by Long Zhu Liu, a California attorney who is being
allowed to work this case in New Jersey because of his "degree of knowledge
of race relations involving the Chinese population," according to an
affidavit. | l********k
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