Little People Sue The Soup

Watercooler

By Nads | Tuesday, March 29, 2011 | 3:00 pm | 20 Comments
Tagged: , , , , , ,
Posted in: Featured, Watercooler

little couple

E! and Joel McHale are being sued for making fun of Little People. In 2009, The Soup did a little spoof (no pun intended) named, “Fertile Little Tattooed Pageant Parents Who Enjoy Baking.” Problem is, they ripped off a picture from the AP of a dwarf couple, Cara and Gibson Reynolds, that actually struggled having children…then took it further by showing Cara in labor (doctored picture). Now, the couple is pissed, and is suing! Cara said she was so upset from the video that she’s been suffering from, “depression, insomnia, upset stomach, sleep interference and experiencing feelings of shame and degradation.”

Thank God TVgasm isn’t The Soup, if I had a dime for every picture we stole, I’d be a rich woman. As for the little couple, I hope a little money can help fix their feelings of “shame and degradation.”

About

Although comedy is her profession, Nadine has accomplished a lot in her young age. She is a national champion black belt, a world-class soccer player, and an avid snowboarder. She started playing soccer at the age of 4, and continued playing through college where she majored in Biology, but quickly realized her destiny was to tell jokes, not to wear a lab coat. So she decided to be funny while finishing her Bachelors Degree in biology and continued on to get her M.B.A. Nadine’s comedy style is much like her athleticism, fearless. She’s made her way up the comedy ladder very quickly, and has become a club favorite at many of the country’s top comedy clubs, including the Improv chain. Performing in the Boston Comedy Festival and being noted as the “one of the youngest and brightest up and comers” and traveling to the Middle East to entertain the troops are just a few of her notable accomplishments. These days Nadine splits time between the stage, a radio studio, her computer blogging, and a television studio. Nadine’s TV, Radio, Writing credits include: national commercials, talking head roles on E! Entertainment, Showtime’s Hot Tamales Live, The Skinny: Fat Free News, The Sunny Side of The Truth: Real World Hollywood, TVgasm, Zazreport, Daddy’s Girls, Jerseylicious, celebrity interviews on Mania TV, a weekly half-hour television show that syndicates to colleges across the country for National Lampoon and a nightly radio show on XM Satellite Radio.

20 Comments

  1. 1
    sarcasatire sarcasatire
    Posted March 29, 2011 at 3:10 pm

    “I hope a little money can help fix their feelings of ‘shame and degradation.’” Hilarious!

  2. 2
    Where's My Coffee?
    Posted March 29, 2011 at 3:36 pm

    If I had a dime for every little people show on TV, I could buy enough crap to become a hoarder. Have we really come all that far from gawking at side shows?

    It sucks that they’re having problems trying to conceive, but if they’re on a reality show, they need to develop some thicker skin.

  3. 3
    blacklashes
    Posted March 29, 2011 at 4:42 pm

    There is no mention of a reality show – The Soup just picked up the photo from the AP (not sure why there picture was on the AP…).

  4. 4
    ohralphie
    Posted March 29, 2011 at 4:53 pm

    That would totally suck to have your image used in that way if you were not a reality famewhore.
    I don’t know what I think about suing – I do feel for them.

  5. 5
    Libithina
    Posted March 29, 2011 at 6:32 pm

    It’s so cute when toddlers get angry about stuff and try to use big words..kids say the darndest things!

  6. 6
    CattyFan cattyfan
    Posted March 29, 2011 at 6:54 pm

    I actually am on their side (and I’m shocked to be there.) But they did not ask for fame…their photo was unrelated the the Soup’s story, was picked arbitrarily, and doctored to boot…and the fact that it happened to be a topic that causes emotional pain is a huge factor.

    I don’t think they should get millions…but I wouldn’t find a six-digit settlement out of line.

    And in the future The Soup should spend a few bucks and hire some actors to pose intead of pulling a picture of unwary innocents.

  7. 7
    Robin Robinez
    Posted March 29, 2011 at 7:02 pm

    Apparently they were in an AP article concerning difficulties to concieve.

    I love The Soup. But, I think they shouldn’t have been so cheap as to grap a pic of people off the wire. And, either they didn’t read the article that came with the pic or they didn’t care. I think they dropped the ball this time. They could have hired a couple of little people to pose as the characters in that sketch and saved themselves alot of trouble.

    TC, Robin

  8. 8
    Thatswhatshesaid
    Posted March 29, 2011 at 7:33 pm

    If the sketch was in 2009, why us it being brought up now? Has it been in the docket and it’s finally going to trial?

  9. 9
    thiajok
    Posted March 29, 2011 at 7:33 pm

    There is a reality show about a little person couple who is having trouble conceiving. There are quite a few reality shows featuring little people because my mother manages to watch every one of them. It boggles my mind to find that the topic is really that interesting enough to support so many shows.

    It seems to me that if you’re going to expose your life to a reality show, then you might as well be emotionally prepared to face the gossip, negative opinions, and satire/parody that comes along with it. But that’s just my opinion. I wouldn’t be thick-skinned enough to be featured on a reality show.

  10. 10
    Robin Robinez
    Posted March 29, 2011 at 8:29 pm

    thiajok, I agree with you completely. But, the thing is, these people weren’t on a reality show. They were just a regular couple that contributed to an AP article about concieving a baby with hopes of helping others by sharing their story.

    Whoever grabbed that pic did a lousy job in my opinion. After I read the link in nad’s article You can see that the morons didn’t even read the article they got the pic from. If they knew and did it anyway…no, nevermind..nobody could be that cruel.

    TC, Robin

  11. 11
    pixiegal262
    Posted March 29, 2011 at 8:41 pm

    After a little digging around I found the article from which their picture was taken, both the original AP story and the one now on MSNBC. It was published in 2006 under the headline: “Ethical minefield: Some ponder ‘designer’ babies with Mom or Dad’s defective genes”. The MSNBC one has a similar headline.

    Therefore, I highly doubt the producers (or likely their interns) knew that Cara had difficulty conceiving children.

    I mean, it sucks that she feels so messed up about it but no one would assume that a couple from an article about “designer babies” would have trouble conceiving.

    I haven’t seen the sketch but I’m assuming they didn’t use their names and I’m also assuming that some intern was tasked with finding a picture of a dwarf couple and came up with their picture.

    They don’t really have a case here neither one for invasion of privacy (as the photo was public property after they released the image to the AP) or one for defamation of character as the use of the photo was not used to make a false claim meant to be fact-it was clearly a joke and the sketch was clearly about a non-existent television show.

    I feel sorry for her, but she can’t really sue for getting her feelings hurt.

  12. 12
    pixiegal262
    Posted March 29, 2011 at 8:43 pm

    Here’s the link to the article, by the way:

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16299656/ns/health-pregnancy/

  13. 13
    Hypnotoad Hypnotoad
    Posted March 29, 2011 at 8:51 pm

    Nah, Nads, I think we’re good here at TVGasm. If you look at Folsom Vs. March (under Fair Use): “[A] reviewer may fairly cite largely from the original work, if his design be really and truly to use the passages for the purposes of fair and reasonable criticism.” And that’s what we do here (basically) — we critique. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use

  14. 14
    Hypnotoad Hypnotoad
    Posted March 29, 2011 at 9:21 pm

    pixiegal — Agreed. But in this day and age, I feel like it doesn’t even matter if they have legal legs to stand on (oh man, must . . . resist . . . joke . . .), but just because of the publicity and money/time consumed in court by The Soup/E!, I’m sure they’ll get a settlement. Look at that ridiculous Lindsay Lohan/E-Trade lawsuit — There’s no way that they could prove that they meant “Lindsay Lohan,” and yet, the case was settled, and therefore Lindsay could afford to buy more cocaine and boxes of Kleenex for dinner.

  15. 15
    itchy
    Posted March 30, 2011 at 5:40 am

    In a sane society, these people would ask The Soup for an apology, and the Soup would apologize and never ever to do it again. The Soup would then invite these people out to a nice dinner, they’d have a couple of glasses of wine together and eventually they’d all laugh at the silliness of it all.

    In a sane society.

  16. 16
    thiajok
    Posted March 30, 2011 at 6:06 am

    I thought this couple had a reality show on TLC, but maybe not. If not, someone at The Soup screwed up.

  17. 17
    Classy Drunk classy drunk
    Posted March 30, 2011 at 6:25 am

    I totally agree with you Itchy. We’ll never see those days again I’m afraid.

  18. 18
    CattyFan cattyfan
    Posted March 30, 2011 at 8:18 am

    pixiegal262…it doesn’t become “public property” after use. The photo still belongs to the AP, and cannot be used without their consent. I wonder if The Soup had gotten permission from the AP for usage, and if they, too, are named in the suit.

  19. 19
    Classy Drunk classy drunk
    Posted March 30, 2011 at 9:09 am

    And the Soup probably had to pay for the picture also as most publications to not let you use their photos with out siting them and compensation.

  20. 20
    (J)ustPeachy
    Posted March 30, 2011 at 11:06 am

    Good points everyone. I love The Soup and have watched it since its Talk Soup days; however, I always fast forward the skits because they are not funny to me.
    I agree they should not have used the picture of the couple if they aren’t from a reality show. With all of the picks available, why didn’t they just use a picture of one of them?

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