Posted on 12/02/2016 7:20:58 AM PST by raccoonradio
Art Bell and his wife sue Michael Savage and Westwood One for defamation. Bell says Westwood should’ve hit the dump button on his September 25 show, when Savage allegedly said this – “You say ‘UFOs’ [on a radio show], you wind up in the Philippines with a ten-year-old hooker and you are off the radio after a number of years...That’s an in-joke, by the way, for people who understand the business.” Former “Coast to Coast” personality Art Bell says the industry should know his story – that he married his wife Airyn Ruiz Bell in the Philippines when she was 22, not 10. The suit says she “has never been a prostitute.” And that the reason he’s “off the radio” is not “because he discussed UFOs or married Ms. Bell.”
The couple’s been married ten years and have a daughter, and their suit says they “demanded that defendants make a correction or retraction of the defamatory statement.” But neither was forthcoming. The named defendants in the suit filed in federal court are Michael Alan Weiner, known professionally as Michael Savage, syndicator Westwood One, and its parent Cumulus. The Bells are suing in the Bay Area because Savage is based there.
The Bells admit that Michael Savage didn’t mention their names. But their defamation suit says “a listener of the program would understand” that Art Bell was the subject of the gibe about marrying “a 10-year-old hooker” in the Philippines and as a result being off the air. Savage didn’t launch his September 25 routine talking about another talk-show host. He wandered there, while musing about the topics he usually eschews – “I generally avoid gun questions. I know from the first day in radio. I learned you never do certain topics where you can destroy your show. Third rail...You say ‘UFOs,’ you wind up in the Philippines” – and you know the rest. The Bell suit alleges that “Cumulus and Westwood failed to exercise due care and adhere to standard radio broadcast industry practice, by not utilizing the delay button.” The suit then covers the legal ground for defamation – “reckless disregard for the truth” and “cognition that such broadcast would defame and disparage plaintiffs.” Art was inducted into the Chicago-based National Radio Hall of Fame in 2008, after ending his 19-year stint as full-time host of “Coast to Coast AM.” He did some guest-hosting after that, then returned in Summer 2015 with his own “Midnight in the Desert.” He says he halted that show after receiving a death threat. The Bells’ lawsuit was filed by the L.A.-based Gerard Fox Law P.C.
Mocking the age difference is one thing, saying she was a 10 y/o hooker crosses the line and may wind up costing Savage a few bucks.
I know. That’s why I say they should’ve not drawn attention to it.
So, not mentioned by name, but somehow the audience is supposed to know a reference to ‘a 10 year old hooker’ is a direct assault on Bell?
That causes one to wonder why Bell thinks a reference to ‘a ten year old hooker’ is about him.
hmmmmm.
[I just started listening to some of Bell a few weeks before he signed off permanently a couple of years ago, become someone was supposedly attacking his home and shooting at it/him.]
I couldn’t give a tinkers damn about who he married. I’m pissed he put Noory on the box. THAT’S criminal!
Jus’ wondering
Is it legal to call himself Dr. Savage if it looks like he became DR when he was Weiner?
Does he have legal papers legalizing legality of transferring title of Dr. from one person to another?
FReepers should demand recall!
“...somehow the audience is supposed to know a reference to ‘a 10 year old hooker’ is a direct assault on Bell?”
If I had heard it, that’s exactly what I would have thought. Apparently his wife could/can not get an entry visa to the US because it was assumed that it was a sham marriage to get a green card.
I don’t know what their current status is.
Who is Art Bell and why should I care?
***I know. That’s why I say they should’ve not drawn attention to it.***
Celebrities do all sorts of things to garner attention. This could be nothing more than that.
Art Bell born: June 17, 1945 (age 71)
Photo here shows her at 21
http://workbench.cadenhead.org/news/2915/art-bell-remarries-leave-us
He rich
Was it love at first sight?
Or love at first site of money and America?
Denied a visa in 2009 (yet illegals are showing up everyday)
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/article/art-bell-s-wife-denied-u-s-visa
http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/143075/art-bell-no-longer-broadcasting-retires-under-duress/
Exactly. Lighten up Art.
It’s possible. but if Art wants attention all he’s gotta do is get on the Frickin radio and talk and they’ll come by the millions.
It doesn’t surprise me that Americans think an older man and a younger woman implies ‘perversion’, which is what Weiner was riffing on.
Other cultures (Philippines, Brazil, Thailand, Costa Rica, and many others) have never frowned on this type of match.
Maybe it’s the USA that has the hangup with age differences, not the other way around. Or maybe it’s because in the USA sex is too central to relationships, and in other cultures it’s more about companionship, or status changes through marriage, or what’s beneficial for the greater extended family (a concept that has all but disappeared in the USA).
as is so called satire.
Savage is a leftist and tries to pander to the right to keep his radio show
“Savage is a leftist and tries to pander to the right to keep his radio show”
On that we can agree. He’s a quack too.
There’s a back story that probably has Art Bell very sensitive to rumors of this sort.
In the late ‘90s Bell’s teenage son was sexually assaulted by an hiv positive homosexual school teacher who is now serving a life sentence for the crime. Bell kept this family tragedy out of the news, but somehow it got out and was twisted into a rumor that Art Bell himself was a child molester.
Bell was the target of threats and hate filled phone calls because people believed the rumors that they had heard. IIRC he was also rumored to have made vile comments about the Philippine people despite his obvious affection for them.
Anyway his radio show was bombarded with calls attacking him and this appears to have been what drove him to quit the show in 2000.
It could be that he feels that he has to publicly fight rumors of this sort because he has personally experienced how dangerous they can be if you hope that they will simply go away.
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Art Bell hasn’t a leg to stand on (although I do find Savage to be crude and sophomoric)
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So you wonder how a 40 y/o man could be attracted to a 25 - 30 y/o woman, or a 50 y/o man to a 35-40 y/o woman? ...or a 60 y/o to a 45-50 y/o? A 10 to 15 year age difference is far from significant, especially the older one gets.
A 50 year difference (as in the case of Art Bell and his wife) is another matter entirely. That's significant. But I have no problem with it. More power to them if they're happy.
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>> “Bell is a little eccentric, but not evil.” <<
Do you have proof?
What caused his now deceased son to become a homosexual?
Its usually molestation by a parent or relative of the same sex that brings it about.
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Ah, makes sense. Thanks for the rest of the story.
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Excellent point!
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