Jay Leno Is Getting Sued for Defamation
Before his Tonight Show goes off the air (for the second time) in February, Jay Leno is getting in trouble for one last joke. Louann Giambattista, a former flight attendant for American airlines, is suing the comedian for defamation for presenting accusations of bestiality as fact on his show.
From the Courthouse News Service:
The 55-year-old flight attendant says the defendants aired a segment mocking the claims she made in a federal lawsuit against her former employer of 32 years, American Airlines.
Giambattista sued the airline in June, claiming her co-workers falsely reported that "she was carrying her pet rats onto work flights, and concealing them in her pantyhose or underwear."
Leno used those accusations in a "crude and defamatory" segment called "Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda," where he stated the allegations as fact and "maliciously depicted plaintiff as a flight attendant who hid rats in her hosiery on work flights," according to last week's lawsuit.
In the segment, Leno's panelists—Alec Mapa, Kira Soltanovich, and Jim Norton—let loose with the edgy, hilarious comedy that makes Leno so appealing to the under-35 demo. Among the amazing one-liners is Mapa's "I would prefer not to sit in cooch." Do you get it? Please don't make us explain it.
Giambattista claims that since the segment aired, she and her husband have become "pariahs in their own community." She had previously sued American Airlines over the claims from her co-workers.
NBC has not issued a statement on the lawsuit yet, but the segment is still on the network's website. If you're up for a test of endurance, you can watch it below.
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This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/entertainment/2013/11/jay-leno-getting-sued-defamation/355267/
