Just when you thought there aren’t enough bogus lawsuits these days:
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http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/eo/19990914/en/19990914011.html Tuesday September 14 12:43 PM EDT
Beverly Hills Cop vs. George Michael
Marcelo Rodriguez has had enough.
Who’s Marcelo Rodriguez? He’s the plainsclothes Beverly Hills cop who busted popster George Michael in the act of, um, getting friendly with himself in a public restroom.
Didn’t know that? Still never heard of Marcelo Rodriguez? Well, maybe you could brush up by reading his new $10 million lawsuit. Marcelo Rodriguez is suing Michael for allegedly trashing his name.
The slander complaint was filed Monday in Los Angeles, according to the Associated Press.
It charges Michael, who claims he was the victim of entrapment, has mocked the officer in interviews and in the video for his 1998 single, “Outside.”
Rodriguez is “a very well-respected police officer who has had some very vicious things said about him,” attorney Richard F.G. Thomas told the wire service.
In the music clip, Michael parodied his April 1998 arrest at Will Rogers Park. It reenacts the bathroom bust and depicts cops hassling other couples as well as two uniformed officers French-kissing. (The singer pleaded no contest to a charge of lewd conduct in May 1998.)
The Rodriguez camp claims Michael has “profited greatly out of what has happened at my client’s expense.”
Chartwise, “Outside” was more of a curiousity piece than a pop force. Michael hasn’t been a best-selling artist in about a decade–the ex-Wham!-ster peaking with his 1987 solo debut album, Faith. The (very literal) exposure he received courtesy the bathroom bust offered his best publicity opportunity of the 1990s. In the wake of the arrest, Michael outed himself.
No word yet from the Michael camp on the lawsuit.
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