Jessie Nizewitz has sued Viacom and several production companies for failing to provide adequate pixelation of her genitalia during an episode of the VH1 show “Dating Naked,” on which she appears as a contestant, or whatever people on gimmicky destination dating shows are called. (“Failure to provide adequate pixelation” is my paraphrase of her claims, but isn’t that the greatest cause of action ever? Another good one I saw was “insufficient junk-blurring.”) It’s a pretty intriguing idea: what duty do the producers of a program that prominently features nudity—including in its title—have to protect the performers from actual nudity?
(If you simply must see the episode, here it is, queued up to her date with a dude named Keegan about 10:45 in.)
The New York Post apparently broke the story, but it doesn’t exactly have much legal analysis. The complaint isn’t up on the New York court system’s website yet, so I had to turn to Courthouse News to find out what Nizewitz is actually claiming:
She seeks an injunction, takedown, and punitive damages of more than $10 million for breach of oral contract, privacy invasion, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and gross negligence.
The breach of contract claim seems like the most obvious one to me. She claims, essentially, that she agreed to appear on the show on the condition that they blur her privates at all times: Continue reading
