Judge: ‘Torture porn’ campaign ads not defamatory
A Washington County judge dismissed portions of two lawsuits over attack ads from the 2016 election that accused a Mon Valley candidate for state House of having starred in a “torture porn movie.”
President Judge Katherine B. Emery said in a pair of similar rulings, filed Friday in the overlapping cases, that it was “literally and factually true” that Charleroi attorney Alan Benyak – a Democrat who lost to GOP Rep. Bud Cook of Coal Center when both sought the 49th District seat that year – and Rachel Olson of Vestaburg had been in a film of that genre.
“It is undisputed that Alan Benyak agreed to appear in the ‘Breeding Farm’ movie. In fact, Mr. Benyak plays a lawyer who purchases human beings for breeding purposes,” Emery said in the ruling on Benyak’s case.
Quoting an entry for “torture porn,” a kind of horror film, from Dictionary.com, she added, “It seems readily apparent, then, that Mr. Benyak agreed to appear in a film where ‘sadistic violence or torture was a central aspect of the plot.'”
Attorney Clark Mitchell filed the lawsuits – one on behalf of Benyak and the other for Olson – in February against Cook, his campaign committee, the Republican Party of Pennsylvania and various “unknown defendants” allegedly involved in making the ads, which featured footage from the 2013 film. The lawsuits claimed the ads harmed Olson’s and Cook’s reputations by falsely accusing them of having acted in a pornographic movie.
The ads began appearing on television in the Mon Valley starting Oct. 19, 2016. They showed footage of Olson tied up and gagged next to a tattooed man. A voice-over stated Benyak had been in a “torture porn movie.” Still photos from that scene also appeared on political mailers circulated in the district.
The rulings by Emery concerned preliminary objections seeking dismissal of the cases filed by attorneys for Cook, the political committee “4 We the People – Cook” and the state GOP.
Along with the defamation claims, Emery also jettisoned claims the defendants had invaded Benyak’s and Olson’s privacy by casting them in a false light.
The judge declined to dismiss another privacy claim alleging their likenesses were used without their consent. The judge found that “based upon the facts as pled” so far they were entitled to continue pursuing that count at this stage of their respective cases.
Court papers say Olson, a marketing executive, had been cast in the film for one day sometime in 2011 before deciding to back out, allegedly agreeing with producer Cody Knotts her character would be cut. In exchange, she would forego the $2,000 payment she was supposed to receive for the role.
Court papers say she wasn’t paid, but never signed a document related to her understanding she wouldn’t be in the final version of the film.