Cynthia James threatens to sue me
Yesterday I posted a picture of Shannon Dey and Cynthia James. The post has literally nothing to do with Cynthia James (it’s exclusively about Shannon Dey), and I didn’t mention Cynthia James’ name in any of the text accompanying the photo. In case you don’t know who Cynthia James is, she’s an IFBB professional, but is mostly known as a tailor. Or a seamstress. I think tailors work on guys clothes and seamstresses work on womens clothing…? Or maybe the title itself simply denotes the gender of the person, and the fact that they make or alter clothing. I have no idea. In any case, she makes competition bikinis and one piece suits, as well as costumes for female bodybuilders, fitness competitors, figure girls, etc…
A lot of the top girls wear her suits, and she’s a pretty big deal in the world of stitching sequins to thongs.
Well apparently, she was upset because yesterday’s blog post included a picture that she happened to be in. She claims that I have defamed her, and that I don’t have permission to use her picture (which was previously published online, taken in a public place, doesn’t belong to her, and for which I credited the original photographer and site it was found on). The photo itself is important to the blog post (it shows Shannon Dey at a particular time and place that is relevant to the post), and it doesn’t diminish from the commercial value of the photo having originally been posted on Bodybuilding.com. She demanded that the picture be taken down and threatened to call her attorney. She also states “someone asked me to take a pic and I agreed” – yeah, well, that’s the point isn’t it? She was asked, by a professional photographer, working for an online site, if he could take her picture. The photo falls under “fair use” exemptions to copyright for for those reasons, and as to her claim of “defamation,” I find that laughable since I didn’t mention her at all, nor say that it was her in the photo with Shannon.
However…
Had she not mentioned calling a lawyer, or tried to throw her weight around (as if I care that she is an “IFBB Professional” or that she “makes all the suits for the pro bodybuilders“), I would have cropped her out or pixilated her face, or whatever. I’m not unreasonable. Asking politely would have gotten the picture altered immediately, but talking about defamation and how I don’t have her permission and she’s going to get a lawyer, blah blah blah, is exactly the opposite way to get me to do something. In fact, it’s a great way to get me pissed off.
I’m not taking the picture down, but I am posting her email. Oh…and here’s a hot tip: If you want to be taken seriously when you threaten to sue someone via email, try selecting a more professional font than Comic Sans MS.
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