Chris Bosh went through similar measures to keep an old girlfriend off of this reality show. Guys don’t want their former love interests to go on national TV and air their dirty laundry. But it’s interesting that there probably aren’t any actual basketball wives on “Basketball Wives.” What actually contributed to him losing this battle was his Twitter content.
A California federal judge has rejected NBA superstar Gilbert Arenas’ attempts to block VH1’s Basketball Wives and turned down a request to stop former fiancé Laura Govan from appearing on the show and mentioning his name.
Further, Shed Media, the producers of the show, have successfully got the judge to grant an anti-SLAPP motion that strikes all of Arenas’ claims as an impingement of free speech except for allegations of a publicity rights infringement. There, the judge dismisses the claim, but is allowing Arenas to file an amended complaint.
The just-released decision comes as a huge relief for VH1, which plans to debut the latest LA-based season of Basketball Wives on Monday.
Further, the judge finds there’s also fair use to Arenas’ name because there’s a matter of public interest involved. Observers might find it odd that a silly VH1 reality TV show could qualify as such importance under the First Amendment, but Judge Gee clarifies:
“Arenas suggests that any discussion of his family life is not sufficiently related to his celebrity to render BWLA’s use of his identity a matter of public concern. This contention is belied by the tens of thousands of Twitter users who follow Arenas as he tweets about a variety of mundane occurrences. “
Read more about Gilbert losing this case at hollywoodreporter.com.
