| Welcome to The New Forums. We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| Gag Order in Jackson Case No Joke for Leno | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 5 2005, 07:01 PM (36 Views) | |
| Canucks fan | Mar 5 2005, 07:01 PM Post #1 |
|
Numero uno
![]()
|
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=550273 LOS ANGELES Mar 4, 2005 — Have you heard the one about Jay Leno, the gag order in the Michael Jackson case and the First Amendment? It's no joke, according to one legal expert: Leno, concerned he could be barred from making "Tonight Show" quips about Jackson's molestation trial, can claim constitutional protection. Leno should prevail with a First Amendment freedom of speech argument, said Jamin Raskin, a law professor at American University in Washington. "The court, in order to avoid a Constitutional showdown, would try to draft a very carefully worded gag order that would allow him to make fair comment on the public aspects of the case," Raskin said Thursday. Leno was subpoenaed for Jackson's trial in Santa Maria, and Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville issued a sweeping order barring anyone involved in the case from discussing it outside court. It would be ridiculous to apply the gag order to Leno," said comedian Bill Maher, host of HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher." "They should absolutely let him do his jokes," Maher said Thursday. "The jokes he's going to make are the same ones he'd make if he wasn't involved in the case." A publicist for the show declined to say whether the subpoena had led Leno to change the monologue's contents. In a motion filed on behalf of Leno, attorneys said the court couldn't have intended the order, issued more than a year ago, to limit "public personalities" such as Leno from commenting on the case. Applying the order to Leno would be prior restraint in violation of the First Amendment and the California Constitution, the motion argues, and it asks the judge to clarify or lift it. If the order has given Leno pause, it's hard to tell from his monologues. He's regularly feasted on the trial and Jackson's odd public image. On the Jan. 31 show, Leno joked that Jackson's bail was high because "the judge felt he was a flight risk." "You know, that he may try to take a spaceship back to his home planet. "More problems today for Michael Jackson," Leno said on Tuesday's show. "Police now say he served alcohol to two more boys, two minors, in 2003 and he was sleeping with three other boys. So now not only is Michael creepy, he's a little tramp, too." Jackson, 46, has pleaded not guilty to charges of molesting a boy; conspiracy and administering an intoxicating agent, alcohol, to his alleged victim. In a statement Thursday, NBC said it was confident the judge "did not intend the gag order to prevent Jay Leno from doing what he has always done, which is entertain the country every night with jokes and comments about current events and breaking news." Comedian David Brenner decries what he sees as creeping censorship for entertainers but thinks Leno might want to restrain himself on the subject. "Making jokes about Michael Jackson is like shooting fish in a barrel with a shotgun. It's so easy … Pick on something that makes you reach a little bit," said Brenner, who was a frequent "Tonight" guest host in the late Johnny Carson's day. Maher takes issue with Leno for his string of Jackson jokes, which Maher claims have contributed to the pop star's "ironclad reputation as a pedophile." If Leno must follow the gag order, political satirist Will Durst is ready to help him out. "Jay should hire me to come and do the Michael Jackson jokes for him," Durst said. "He could hand me the note cards and I could read them. He could stand next to me wearing a gag." |
![]() |
|
| Lustre | Mar 5 2005, 09:19 PM Post #2 |
|
I'm On Top Of The World
![]()
|
wow, MJ is 46? I had heard this on the radio. Like that one guy said, this is too easy for Leno. He should go after other things. |
![]() |
|
| « Previous Topic · TV · Next Topic » |








7:14 PM Jul 10