![\"\"](\"http:\/\/machinegunkeyboard.com\/blogimages\/dylan_lewis_annoying.jpg\" "\\"What")
Blogs are all about opinion and interactivity. If what you have to say isn’t controversial, it’s probably not worth saying. The interactivity comes in the comments. Good blogs get insightful commenters. Great blogs get stalkers. Brilliant blogs get legal threats.<\/p>\n
slackbastard<\/a>, published by Melbourne’s @ndy, is a sledgehammer in the hand of a skilled yet rabid wordsmith. @ndy covers current events from an anarchist\/anti-corporate and anti-racist perspective. @ndy normally forges intense, insightful, well researched bits, but every once in a while he’ll fire off a short sharp mortar round. Such was the case in @ndy locks & loads:<\/p>\n Number Ones<\/strong><\/p>\n Dylan Fucking<\/em> Lewis is back on my TV screen, this time acting zany while flogging mobile phones belonging to Crazy John. According to a culture industry source “Dylan Lewis is a multi-skilled musician and media personality who can entertain and keep a crowd engaged anywhere, anytime!” but I think he’s actually one of the most annoying cunts to ever be spat out of a womb. “The rare experience of hosting an abundance of television shows combined with his professionalism, elite talent and ‘wow’ factor allows him to deliver at the highest level”, but substitute “thick eyebrows” for “professionalism”, “dickheadedness” for “elite talent” and “vomit-inducing” for “wow” and I think you’ll be much closer to the truth.<\/p>\n Caulfield Fucking Grammar has a lot to answer for, that’s for sure.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Even with my not knowing who the hell Dylan Lewis is, @ndy’s satirical Hunter S. Thompsonesque spray cracked me up.<\/p>\n 19 months later, @ndy gets an amusing email:<\/p>\n Dear Sir,<\/p>\n We represent Dylan Lewis. It has come to our notice that a website titled “slackbastards” which appears to be controlled or owned by you has made reference to Dylan. Under the subheading “Number One’s” references to Dylan of a defamatory nature have been made. We have obtained legal advice confirming the status of the material as being offensive and defamatory. We seek to have the article\/paragraph removed immediately from the website.<\/p>\n Should you not remove the offending material we are instructed to brief solicitors on behalf of our client to seek an injunction and damages.<\/p>\n Mark Klemens O RLY? \ud83d\ude06<\/p>\n @ndy replied to Klemens:<\/p>\n Dear Mark,<\/p>\n Thank you for your email.<\/p>\n First, two very minor corrections.<\/p>\n The title of the blog is ‘slackbastard’, not ‘slackbastards’; the subheading is ‘Number Ones’ not ‘Number One’s’.<\/p>\n Secondly, a few questions.<\/p>\n 1. Could you please identify precisely which passages, and which terms, in the paragraph below, that you allege to be defamatory?<\/p>\n ======<\/p>\n Number Ones<\/p>\n Dylan Fucking Lewis is back on my TV screen, this time acting zany while flogging mobile phones belonging to Crazy John. According to a culture industry source “Dylan Lewis is a multi-skilled musician and media personality who can entertain and keep a crowd engaged anywhere, anytime!” but I think he’s actually one of the most annoying cunts to ever be spat out of a womb. “The rare experience of hosting an abundance of television shows combined with his professionalism, elite talent and “wow” factor allows him to deliver at the highest level”, but substitute “thick eyebrows” for “professionalism”, “dickheadedness” for “elite talent” and “vomit-inducing” for “wow” and I think you’ll be much closer to the truth.<\/p>\n Caulfield Fucking Grammar has a lot to answer for, that’s for sure.<\/p>\n ======<\/p>\n 2. Could you please explain to me why you seek the removal of the article as a whole?<\/p>\n 3. Further, given that the post was made on January 4, 2008, why was your email sent 19 months later, on August 6, 2009?<\/p>\n 4. I have received four comments in response to my post of January 4, 2008. I am unaware of anyone else paying it any attention other than yourself. Given that this is the case, could you please explain to me what ‘damages’ have been inflicted upon Dylan Lewis?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Klemens replies:<\/p>\n I refer to my previous email. Should the paragraph as requested not be removed within 48 hours then I will seek our clients instructions to brief solicitors forthwith to commence proceedings against you. Our client will seek an injunction and damages. The result will mean, inter alia, substantial costs orders against you. Please confirm by return when the paragraph has been removed.<\/p>\n Mark Klemens inter alia!<\/em> Wow, is that French? mmrrrowr. \ud83d\ude06<\/p>\n Klemens pretends to not understand that one person’s honestly held opinion of another, such as @ndy’s opinion that Dylan Lewis is ‘annoying,’ cannot be claimed to be a defamation. Such speech is protected under Australian law as ‘fair comment<\/a>.’ @ndy has not accused Lewis of any unlawful activity nor accused him of an act which he has not committed. @ndy merely offers his opinion of Lewis as ‘annoying.’<\/p>\n As I said, I had no idea who Dylan Lewis was before @ndy let me in on this note from Lewis’ agent. I did some looking about; Lewis is apparently a DJ on a Melbourne radio station<\/a>. His Nova100-FM<\/a> bio<\/a> says:<\/p>\n […] Dylan then went on to do a couple more music telly shows – “The 10:30 Slot” and “Pepsi Live”, and then he appeared in “Celebrity Big Brother” (which he won because of his amazing style he learnt as a boy in Adelaide), “Celebrity Circus”, and “Celebrity Nob-ends”. Clearly the use of the word “Celebrity” in these shows was an overstatement and pretty much marked the end of his TV career. So he moved to England for a while to drink pints. Upon his return and David Bowie-ish reinvention, he landed a gig at Nova and has been there ever since. Dylan had a little bit of experience in radio having had a go at PBS and JJJ a little bit during his “Celebrity” years. But he wasn”t very adept at it so had to sleep with the boss and be a gimp for a few weeks in order to get the gig.<\/p>\n He”s very glad he prostituted himself [per barista in comments, why doesn’t Klemens threaten to sue Nova for defaming his client as a prostitute, hmm? -weez]<\/strong><\/font> though because now he”s less shit at radio and wants to stay forever. […]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n You know what? @ndy’s right- Lewis IS annoying. Anyone who had anything to do with ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ would be so by definition. Due to defamation law reform in Australia in recent times, you can no longer defame with truth. However, a defamation case defendant making a claim of ‘fair comment’ need not even prove the truth of the statement, rather only state that the comment was based on their honestly held opinion to prevail against any defamation claim.<\/p>\n Electronic Frontiers Australia<\/a> notes<\/a>:<\/p>\n […] there are several defences for defamation, including truth and fair comment. If the statements are either true or are phrased in the terms where it appears that the maker is giving an opinion rather than a statement of truth, then the maker is unlikely to be liable for defamation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Furthermore<\/a>…<\/p>\n SUPREME COURT RULES 2000 – REG 263K (1) A defence of fair comment at common law is sufficiently pleaded if it alleges that the matter complained of was a comment that ”<\/p>\n (a) was based on ”<\/p>\n (i) true fact; or<\/p>\n (ii) material that was published under privilege; and<\/p>\n (b) related to a matter of public interest; and<\/p>\n (c) was made honestly by the defendant.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n While he IS annoying, I don’t think that Lewis necessarily fits @ndy’s colourful characterisation as the <\/em>‘one of the most annoying cunts to ever be spat out of a womb.’ The ultimate honour goes to Mark Klemens<\/a>, who thinks he can heavy a blogger into silence with lawyery shit for said blogger expressing their honestly held opinion about a public figure.<\/p>\n Clearly, Klemens is just hoping @ndy will piss his pants and pass out upon receipt of a couple of brief yet lawyery sounding bluff emails. Given the ironclad protections afforded to speakers under ‘fair comment’ specifications, Klemens would not only have zero chance of success in a defamation claim, he’d unquestionably find himself liable for @ndy’s costs incurred in defending the case.<\/p>\n The possibility exists that Klemens will do a lot more damage to Lewis’ career than @ndy ever could through the Streisand Effect<\/a>. The world now knows that Lewis has a bullying, threatening cockhead for an agent and thus will be as well-known for that as anything else.<\/p>\n I wonder what the remainder of Klemens’ clients<\/a> think of being represented by an agent who bullies bloggers over legitimate fair comment. There’s no doubt they’d be unhappy with having to pay defendants’ legal costs associated with any such ill-considered action.<\/p>\n However, I fully support Klemens’ decision to sue bloggers. Nothing pumps up the readership numbers like an arrogant millionaire former barrister<\/a> with a team of lawyers who tries to suppress the public expressions of a hobbyist writer. Suing bloggers definitely shuts them up<\/a>, too. This item you’re reading is prima facie<\/em> evidence of that, innit?<\/p>\n Awaiting my writ. Don’t you want one, too?<\/p>\n -weez<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Blogs are all about opinion and interactivity. If what you have to say isn’t controversial, it’s probably not worth saying. The interactivity comes in the comments. Good blogs get insightful commenters. Great blogs get stalkers. Brilliant blogs get legal threats. slackbastard, published by Melbourne’s @ndy, is a sledgehammer in the hand of a skilled yet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/machinegunkeyboard.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/machinegunkeyboard.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/machinegunkeyboard.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/machinegunkeyboard.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/machinegunkeyboard.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/machinegunkeyboard.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/machinegunkeyboard.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/machinegunkeyboard.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/machinegunkeyboard.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/machinegunkeyboard.com\/blogimages\/klemens_annoyinger.jpg\" "\\"What")
January 2008, when @ndy published “Aaarrrggghhh! Dylan Lewis! Tania Lacy! So Much Hate!<\/a>”<\/p>\n
\nManaging Director
\nProfile Talent Management<\/a>
\n323 Montague St,
\nAlbert Park, Victoria
\nAustralia 3206
\nMKlemens@profiletalent.com.au
\nT: +613 8598 7810
\nM: 0412 386 765<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nManaging Director
\nProfile Talent Management<\/a>
\n323 Montague St,
\nAlbert Park, Victoria
\nAustralia 3206
\nMKlemens@profiletalent.com.au
\nT: +613 8598 7810
\nM: 0412 386 765<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n263K. Defence of fair comment<\/p>\n