PHILADELPHIA – A local television host who was initially selected to be the ring announcer for a celebrity boxing match between Lamar Odom and Aaron Carter – and who claimed she was removed from that post by the event promoter and defamed after she declined his sexual advances – has settled her claims.
Gail Kasprzak (a.k.a. Gail Kasper) and Gail Kasper Television, LLC of Cherry Hill, N.J. first filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on July 29 versus Celebrity Boxing Entertainment, LLC, of Philadelphia.
Kasper, an author, speaker and television host said she had reached an agreement with Celebrity Boxing Entertainment CEO Damon Feldman to be the ring announcer for a well-publicized match on June 11 at the Showboat Hotel in Atlantic City, N.J.
Kasper was to receive $500 as payment and worldwide exposure through the match’s broadcast, namely as the first female ring announcer of a Celebrity Boxing event, and one of only a few women who have served as a ring announcer for any MMA, wrestling or boxing event around the world.
As a result, Kasper said she spent time and effort promoting the event through her social media channels.
“Defendant Celebrity Boxing led plaintiffs to believe that it would continue to perform the agreement and induced plaintiff Kasper to use her name, likeness and social media capital to continue promoting the event. Plaintiff Kasper never would have devoted her time, effort and social media capital to continue promoting the event if she knew defendant Celebrity Boxing intended to terminate her services as ring announcer in breach of the agreement,” the suit said.
However, the suit added that Feldman reneged on the deal this past April, claiming that the event had grown in size and recognition, and supposedly, it was no longer appropriate for Kasper to serve as the ring announcer – despite the size of the event not being a term of the agreement Kasper made with the defendants.
“On or about May 25, 2021, Feldman, on behalf of defendant, stated publicly in a post on Kasper’s Facebook page that Kasper could no longer be the ring announcer because ‘in this business you have to start at the bottom,’ which clearly conveyed to all viewers of the message that Kasper was not qualified to serve as the ring announcer for the event to occur in June 2021,” the suit stated.
“The defamatory statement was a false statement of fact because Kasper was in fact qualified and capable of acting ring announcer for the event. Feldman also falsely stated, as part of the defamatory statement, that Kasper ‘did not respond’ to an alternative offer made by Celebrity Boxing, which was also false and implied to viewers of the statement that Kasper was unprofessional.”
Kasper said Feldman’s social media comment was made with malicious intent, resulting in her replacement at the event with a male ring announcer, Mike Markham, who was allegedly paid more than Kasper was supposed to have been under the agreement.
“Feldman previously propositioned plaintiff Kasper for sex, including but not limited to on or about Feb. 9, 2021 at a business dinner at which Feldman asked Kasper if she could see herself with a guy like him, asked her to wear a bikini when serving as ring announcer, and invited her back for an evening session in his hot tub. Kasper refused him, and Feldman’s authorization and making of the defamatory statement was motivated by his desire for retribution against plaintiff Kasper,” the suit alleged.
“Feldman is a known abuser of women, having served several months in a Chester County, Pennsylvania prison after pleading guilty to assault and reckless endangerment, for punching his girlfriend several times in the face and head. True to form, Feldman and defendant Celebrity Boxing replaced plaintiff Kasper as the ring announcer for the Event with a man and, on information and belief, paid the male ring announcer more than defendants’ fee under the agreement. In addition, when plaintiffs made public and truthful efforts to rally support for her re-employment as ring announcer, Celebrity Boxing employed its ‘General Counsel’ Jackie Borock to shamefully threaten Kasper with “criminal” action should Kasper continue exercising her lawful First Amendment speech rights.”
In a Sept. 14 motion to dismiss from the defendant, it argued that the complaint lacked subject matter jurisdiction and failed to state a claim.
“This Court does not have subject matter jurisdiction over plaintiffs’ claims. Plaintiffs fail to articulate damages establishing that they have met the amount in controversy requirement for diversity jurisdiction. Again, this entire complaint arises out of a five-hundred-dollar contract. Plaintiffs does not articulate, calculate, or estimate any of the purported categorical damages arising out of this alleged breach. Instead, plaintiffs simply speculate in their ad damnum clauses that the claims are valued at $75,000 or higher,” the dismissal motion stated.
“Plaintiffs’ claims for misappropriation of Ms. Kasper’s name and likeness (Counts II and III) are frivolous and should be dismissed upon the express language of the parties’ agreement, which explicitly authorizes use of Ms. Kasper’s name and likeness in connection with her role as the ring announcer. Plaintiff’s claims for defamation and trade libel are likewise without merit.”
According to the motion, the alleged ‘defamatory statement’ is “a statement of opinion, not fact, (ii) not capable of defamatory meaning, even accounting for the ‘implications’ alleged by plaintiff, who admits that she has no prior experience in this field, and (iii) not made by a party to this action.”
“Moreover, plaintiff Kasper is admittedly a public figure and therefore must show that the statements were made with actual malice, i.e. actual knowledge or reckless disregard of their falsity, which she has failed to allege,” per the motion.
“In addition, defendant hereby moves to strike scandalous and impertinent material set forth in Paragraph 70 of plaintiff’s complaint. These vicious allegations have no evidentiary bearing on plaintiffs’ claims, have no relevance to the legal standard of ‘actual malice,’ and appear to be pled for the sole purpose of embarrassing, harassing and intimidating a non-party.”
However, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Judge Chad F. Kenney denied the dismissal motion on Sept. 16.
UPDATE
After an amended complaint and second motion to dismiss were filed on Oct. 22 and Dec. 1 respectively, Kenney again denied the dismissal motion on Dec. 23.
Subsequently, the defendants filed an answer to the case on Jan. 18, complete with a counter-statement of facts and counterclaims of defamation and commercial disparagement, lodged against Kasprzak for her statements on social media.
“The aforementioned statements were all published to a mass public audience. Moreover, Kasper repeatedly and aggressively sought followers and media attention to support her in this pursuit by defaming Celebrity Boxing. The above defamatory statements are false. Kasper knew when she published the above defamatory statements that they were false,” the answer stated, in part.
“As a direct and proximate result of the delivery and publication of the defamatory statements, Celebrity Boxing has suffered as suffered injury by way of reputational harm, loss of good will, and financial harm. Kasper’s statements regarding Celebrity Boxing were outrageous in character, go beyond all possible bounds of decency and are to be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized community. As set forth above, Kasper intentionally, knowingly, purposefully, willfully, wantonly and/or recklessly, published the defamatory statements.”
However, on Feb. 17, it was noted that the case had been dismissed with prejudice, in light of a probable settlement which had been reached. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
“Plaintiffs Gail Kasper Television LLC and Gail Kasprzak a.k.a. Gail Kasper, and defendant Celebrity Boxing Entertainment, LLC, being all parties who have appeared, and by and through their respective undersigned counsel, hereby stipulate pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1)(A)(ii) that this action is dismissed with prejudice in its entirety, with each party bearing its own costs and fees, and waiving all rights of appeal,” the stipulation read.
Kenney approved the dismissal the very same day.
For counts of breach of contract, infringement of statutory right of publicity, infringement of common law right of publicity/appropriation of name and likeness, defamation and trade libel, the plaintiffs are seeking damages in excess of $75,000, plus interest, costs and such other and further relief as this Court deems just and proper.
The plaintiffs are represented by Michael Eidel of Fox Rothschild, in Philadelphia.
The defendant is represented by George Bochetto and Kiersty DeGroote of Bochetto & Lentz, also in Philadelphia.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 2:21-cv-03379
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com