Free Speech Anyone, Part II.

Hollywood Idiots has a post about how Boycott Hollywood was shut down. Because Boycott Hollywood was annoying gauchista SAG members, attorneys for the William Morris Agency wrote a "cease and desist" letter to Boycott Hollywood's website administrator and others. Boycott's domain registrar apparently seized upon the fact that Boycott's proprietors in an attempt to protect their privacy gave bogus contact information to shut Boycott Hollywood down. I would be surprised if such a practice was not entirely common in the paranoid and anonymous world of the internet.

A couple of points. I am not a First Amendment absolutist. Never have been, never will be, because of this kind of hypocrisy. The Left talks a good game about absolute First Amendment protections against both legal and social pressures and then goes silent when the ox that is gored is not a dues paying gauchista.

Second, I would think that the William Morris Agency better watch its own six o'clock. In California there is this tort called "interference with contract." Although the registrar may have had the legal right to terminate Boycott's contract, under California law, although a contract may be terminable at the will of one of the parties to the contract, that is simply not a defense to interference with Boycott's contractual rights. If the contract was interfered with through some "wrongful means," such fraud or defamation, then Boycott may have a viable claim against the William Morris Agency. By the way, threatening criminal prosecution in order to obtain an advantage in a civil action is a per se wrongful act. You can ask any attorney or look it up in Rule of Professional Conduct 5 - 100.

Third, what was it that caused the William Morris Agency to claim that there were potential civil and criminal penalties? It was allegations that certain celebrities opposed the war. So what? Hollywood celebrities are public figures by definition. They have the ability to correct the public record through the marketplace of ideas. Too bad for their sensitivities.