Members-Only Article
As this election blurred forward I was taking notes for more editions of our “Brittle Grip” Series, the phenomenon of the super powerful and super rich feeling increasingly insecure in their power and wealth even as both wax. One of the key features of this new Gilded Age is the ultra-wealthy and ultra-powerful arguing that their ultra-wealth and ultra-power opens them up to criticism and animosity which entitles them to unique and greater rights and powers to protect themselves. I was forced ahead of schedule this morning by news out of St. Louis from the McCloskeys, the husband and wife sixty-something lawyers who entered the campaign drama when they came out of their house brandishing firearms and threatening to murder protestors who happened to be walking by their house. The couple has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the photographer who took those iconic pictures of them with their guns.
The McCloskeys became cause celebres on the right and actually made an appearance at the Republican convention. They embraced their role so fulsomely that they made holiday greeting cards using the the iconic photo of themselves notionally defending their home with a pistol and AR-15. Indeed, late last month UPI, which owns the rights to the image pondered sending a cease and desist letter to the couple over their copyright violation.
It’s not entirely clear to me from the local news report the precise legal theory behind the suit. It appears to be based in large part on the claim that UPI photograph Bill Greenblatt was trespassing when he took the photo. But the suit alleges that Greenblatt’s photo contributed to “significant national recognition and infamy” and caused them “humiliation, mental anguish and severe emotional distress.” The couple sued Greenblatt, UPI and a merchandising company called Redbubble which has apparently been selling shirts and other merchandise focused on the incident. They claim that Greenblatt, UPI and Redbubble have profited from “t-shirts, masks, and other items, and licensing use of photographs bearing Plaintiffs’ likenesses, without obtaining Plaintiffs’ consent.”
Here the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports the story along with a delightfully absurdly long list of photos of the incident taken by PD photographer Laurie Skrivan.
