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Politics : Bill Clinton Scandal - SANITY CHECK -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (37188)3/7/1999 8:31:00 PM
From: JBL  Respond to of 67261
 
Canadian minister to sue Hustler
Heritage chief angry over pornographic references to her
REUTERS

OTTAWA, March 5 — Canada's feisty Heritage
Minister, Sheila Copps, is suing the Canadian
publisher of the raunchy Hustler magazine after its
February edition featured her in a pornographic
contest and called her a “hot babe.”













COPPS, WHO has drawn the wrath of some U.S. publishers
for her efforts to ban Canadian editions of foreign magazines,
has filed notice in Ontario court that she intends to sue the
publisher of Hustler's Canadian edition — but not flamboyant
U.S. publisher Larry Flynt — for libeling her with the lewd
contest.

READER CONTEST
The magazine gave three examples of female genitalia
and asked readers to identify which would most closely
resemble those of the Canadian minister. The issue also
invited readers to describe why they would like to have sex
with the 46-year-old “prime minister wannabe,” who the
magazine described as “one hot babe.”
Copps originally said she intended to ignore the sleazy
contest, which hit newsstands in mid-January.
But her spokesman, Jacques Lefebvre, said Copps
changed her mind when her 11-year-old daughter was
taunted by schoolmates about the contest.
“Her daughter told her she had been teased in school by
fellow school mates, saying that her mother was in a porn
magazine. That really affected her,” Lefebvre said.
Copps' lawyer, Julian Porter, said on Friday the
one-page feature in Hustler was clearly malicious libel.

‘RIDICULE AND CONTEMPT'
“The definition of libel is if it holds people to hatred,
ridicule or contempt — and this certainly is ridicule and
contempt,” Porter told Reuters.
“At some point, material that is offensive, written for
other people's gain, having nothing to do with anything other
than pure malice, that's all enough to satisfy libel.”
He said the suit only names Belinda Riverin, the
president and publisher of Quebec-based BZR Publications.
“The (Canadian) content is all done by the Canadian
(publisher), added and inserted by the Canadians, and so I
would have no idea of whether the Americans were aware
of the insertion of this,” Porter said.
Riverin could not be reached for comment.
Hundreds of convenience stores across Ontario pulled
the magazine after customers complained it was in bad taste.
Porter declined to say how much money Copps' was
seeking in damages, but Lefebvre said any monetary award
would go to battered women's shelters or women's groups.
“(Her goal) is to ensure that such a situation, a public
figure or a woman that is successful does not have to face
this kind of situation,” Lefebvre said.