Jared Leto has filed a lawsuit against TMZ and its parent company Warner Bros. Entertainment for copyright infringement, claiming that the celebrity news website posted a video of him dissing Taylor Swift in spite of warnings that the footage was stolen, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
TMZ posted a video showing the Oscar-winning actor in his home studio cursing Taylor Swift and her "1989" album. "I don't like this at all - next," he says in the video, speaking about a track from the album. The minute-long video clip ends with him saying, "I mean, f--k her. I don't give a f--k about her." The "Dallas Buyers Club" actor later apologized to Swift and her fans on Twitter, as HNGN previously reported.
"Last Sunday, I was alerted that TMZ had acquired personal and private video footage of me in my home and that they were planning to leak it on their site," Leto said. "My team notified TMZ immediately that I fully owned the footage and that their source had absolutely no rights to sell it. They chose to post it anyway. Let's be clear. This was stolen footage. This was an invasion of privacy. And it was both legally and morally wrong."
"I have chosen to file this lawsuit not because I want to, but in hopes it will encourage more people to stop trafficking in stolen goods, to follow proper legal procedure and so that it may motivate additional consideration for the harm these acts can create, especially when the only intention is to simply further the bottom line for the companies and corporations that commit these acts," he continued.
The lawsuit, filed in a California federal court on Wednesday through law firm Sisyphus Touring, alleged that the video footage was "working material that is confidential, private, and was not intended for public exhibition." The complaint further added that the video was obtained illegally by a former videographer employed by Leto, who then sold it to the website for $2,000, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Leto is seeking unspecified damaged from the copyright infringement lawsuit, which also also states that the videographer refused to sign a document that officially stated that he was the legal owner of the footage and later asked TMZ to refrain from uploading it to their website.
This isn't the first time TMZ has faced a lawsuit from Leto's attorney, Howard E. King. King sued the website for sharing allegedly stolen, confidential and copyrighted footage of Debbie Rowe's interview in 2010, shortly after ex-husband Michael Jackson's death. Both parties agreed to a settlement in the case, according to USA Today.
