PTC settles multi-count civil lawsuit with WWE with retraction and $3.5 million settlement
On July 3, WWE Entertainment, Inc., and the PWBTS-sponsored Wrestling Fans Against Censorship; and others who believed in the right of wrestling fans to view their entertainment without the interference of outside organizations have won their 2 1/2 year battle against the Parents Television Council.
On July 3rd, the Parents Television Council has publicly issued a retraction of the most notable of the charges they made against the WWF/E; charges that formed the backbone of a multi-count lawsuit by WWF Entertainment, Inc. (as it was then known) against the Parents Television Council, its parent organization Media Research Center, PTC heads L. Brent Bozell and Mark Honig, and members of the Board of the Parents Television Council, including US Senator Joseph Lieberman.
The two major claims that the PTC retracted include:
1) The claim that WWF/E programming was somehow involved for the so-called "wrestling deaths" of several children, including the well-publicized murder of Tiffany Eunick by Lionel Tate.
2) The claim that numerous advertisers withdrew their advertising from WWF/E programming, particularly Smackdown. The PTC acknowledged the fact that the information that they listed was inaccurate.
The retraction in full reads as follows:
PTC RETRACTION TO WWE AND TO THE PUBLIC
Media Research Center (MRC), Parents Television Council (PTC), Dr. Delores Tucker, Mark Honig and I have in the past made statements regarding so-called wrestling deaths-children killed by other children alleged to be mimicking “professional wrestling” moves they saw on television.
We made such statements to members of MRC and PTC, the media, advertisers on World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Smackdown! program, retailers that sell WWE-related toys and merchandise, public officials and the public.
MRC and PTC also produced a videotape as part of a fundraising campaign in connection with its “National Campaign to Clean Up TV Now!”, which advanced the notion that the murder of Tiffany Eunick was caused by the influence of professional wrestling on Lionel Tate. The videotape included interviews with Lionel Tate’s lawyer advancing the notion that the murder of Tiffany Eunick, the victim, was directly caused by the impact that professional wrestling had on Lionel Tate.
We based our statements on media reports and source information. We now believe, based on extensive investigation and facts which have come to light since making those statements, that it was wrong for MRC, PTC, their spokespersons and myself to have said anything that could be construed as blaming WWE or any of its programs for the deaths of the children.
Simply put, it was premature to reach that conclusion when we did, and there is now ample evidence to show that conclusion was incorrect. I now believe that professional wrestling played no role in the murder of Tiffany Eunick, which was a part of our “Clean Up TV Now!” campaign, and am equally convinced that it was incorrect and wrong to have blamed WWE or any of its programs for the deaths of the other children.
Because of our statements, PTC, MRC and the WWE have been in litigation since November 2000. WWE vigorously advanced its position that neither it, nor “professional wrestling” lead to these deaths.
WWE also contended that MRC, PTC, their spokespersons and I had misrepresented the number of advertisers who withdrew support from WWE’s Smackdown! television program after receiving communications from the PTC, some of which regrettably connected the WWE and Smackdown! to the deaths of children. As such, WWE exercised its right to initiate this litigation, during which facts came to light that prompted me to make this statement.
By this retraction, I want to be clear that WWE was correct in pointing out that various statements made by MRC, PTC and me were inaccurate concerning the identity and number of WWE Smackdown! advertisers who withdrew support from the program. Many of the companies we stated had “withdrawn” or pulled their support had never, in fact, advertised on Smackdown! nor had any plan to advertise on Smackdown! Again, we regret this error and retract any such misleading statements.
Finally, concerning the statements about child wrestling deaths, it was wrong to have stated or implied that WWE or any of its programs caused these tragic deaths. Specifically concerning the Lionel Tate case, recent developments lead us to believe that others and we were given, and relied upon, false information provided by parties close to the case.
The information that we were given and relied upon may have been designed to make a national example of the Florida murder trial, pinning the blame on WWE. For example, we were told by a source that Lionel Tate was watching a WWE program when he assaulted Tiffany Eunick. In fact, Lionel Tate was watching the “Flintstones” and a cartoon entitled “Cow and Chicken.” We were also told, by a source, that Lionel Tate killed Tiffany Eunick while executing a wrestling move unique to a WWE character called the “Stone Cold Stunner.” We have since learned that this was not true, nor was there any evidence that it was true.
It is now well documented that after the Tate trial concluded, the presiding Judge said that it was “inconceivable” that Tiffany Eunick’s injuries were caused by Lionel Tate mimicking wrestling moves. Indeed, since the trial ended, Lionel Tate’s new lawyers have filed court papers in which they admit that the “wrestling defense” was, in their words, “bogus.”
Given these facts, WWE was within its rights to be angry at the MRC, PTC, their spokespersons and I for contacting WWE’s advertisers to go beyond complaining about WWE content but passing along accusations which we now know were false. Because I feel a simple retraction is not sufficient, I have personally extended my apology to Vince McMahon and the WWE on behalf of MRC, PTC, Dr. Tucker, Mr. Honig and me. Through this letter, I now make this apology public and specifically directed to the advertising community that has in the past, is currently or may in the future consider advertising or sponsoring WWE programming.
The PTC can have its concern with the content of WWE’s television programming - though these concerns have been reduced significantly over the past years as a reflection of WWE’s changed standards. But nowhere in that debate, including in the correspondence and statements to the advertising community, should there have been any discussion of “wrestling” deaths.
I regret this happening, it wasn’t fair to WWE. And I say this emphatically: Please disregard what others and we have said in the past about the Florida “wrestling” death. Neither “wrestling” in general, nor WWE specifically, had anything to do with it. Of that I am certain.
Sincerely,
L. Brent Bozell, III
cc: Vince and Linda McMahon
Now, even after reading that...some things need to be said.
First... the PTC didn't just "discover" information about the inaccuracy of the wrestling defense.
They knew it all along.
Second...the PTC didn't just "discover" information about the inaccuracy of the wrestling defense. We were telling them between three and seven times per week with each WFAC PTC Watch.
Here's the final scoreboard for RAW, Heat and Smackdown episodes that featured advertisements by fourteen companies that the PTC claimed to have removed their advertising from WWF/E programming, referred to, until very recently, as "Good Guys", compiled from January 1, 2001 to July 1, 2002:
Campbell Soup Company (Swanson) RAW 1/Smackdown 16/Heat 9
Tricon Global Restaurants (Taco Bell/KFC) RAW 36/Smackdown 19
ConAgra (Chef Boyardee and Slim Jim) RAW 57/Smackdown 20/Heat 54 and sponsor of SummerSlam 2001 PPV
1 800 CALL ATT/AT&T Wireless RAW 62/Smackdown 7/Heat 26 and sponsor of Judgement Day 2002 PPV
M&M/Mars (M&Ms, Snickers, Skittles, Starburst, Twix, and Uncle Ben's Rice) RAW 70/Smackdown 13/Heat 46, sponsor of Wrestlemania 2001 and 2002, and King of the Ring 2001 and 2002 PPVs
Burger King RAW 51/Smackdown 1/Heat 30
US Government (Armed Forces/USA Freedom Corps) RAW 11/Smackdown 22
Pep Boys RAW 11
1-800-COLLECT (owned by MCI World.com) RAW 43/Smackdown 3/Heat 25
Ford Motor Company RAW 24/Smackdown 25/Heat 2 (Mercury Vehicles)
Wrigley (Spearmint, Doublemint, Juicy Fruit, Orbit, Big Red, Freedent, and WinterFresh gums) Heat 14
Dr. Pepper/Seven-Up (Canada Dry) Heat 2
Coca-Cola (Coca-Cola and Nestea) RAW 1/Smackdown 6
Abbott Laboratories (Selsun Blue and Clear Eyes) Heat 2
That isn't just making a mistake.
The PTC ignoring the fact that M&M/Mars had run advertisements on 129 separate RAW, Smackdown and Heat episodes over a 19 month period, in addition to sponsoring four major WWF/E PPVs... despite the fact that they deliberately listed them as a "Good Guy" that had withdrawn advertising from WWF/E....is hardly a "mistake".
Instead, that "mistake"... and the use of the bodies of dead children as part of an ideological vendetta was a deliberate attempt to raise money for the Media Research Center and Parents Television Council; deliberately making claims they knew to be false...to scapegoat the programming that you and I watch on Monday, Thursday and Sunday nights as a cause for children killing children via their campaigns of corporate terrorism.
The PTC and their allies never expected that there would be wrestling fans who would care enough about their rights as Americans (as well as Canadians and UK citizens) and as wrestling fans to simply enjoy the television programming they choose to watch...to fight their well-funded corporate terrorism campaign.
They never figured that people like you and I sitting at our keyboards at home would take them on with the power of truth, and give WWF/E Entertainment the factual ammunition they needed to force this settlement by the Parents Television Council.
Wrestling Fans Against Censorship was co-founded by PWBTS, Piledriver Press and Strictly ECW (the ECW fans lobby) for the purpose of defeating the Parents Television Council in their efforts.
On July 3rd, we have done that very thing.
This will be the next to last of the WFAC PTC Watches; with one final e-mailing on the official statements by WWE on this matter, which will likely occur on Monday, after the July 4th weekend.
It'll be nice to watch wrestling on Monday, Thursday and Sunday nights without having to sit with a pad and paper to take down the names of advertisers of WWF/E programming.
