Boston-area mayor Joe Curtatone’s lawsuit against Barstool Sports and host Kirk Minihane was thrown out.
Curtatone sued last year over Minihane’s prank interview with him, arguing it was a violation of the state’s law for recording a person without consent. As iMediaEthics reported at the time, Minihane called Curtatone, the mayor of Somerville, and posed as Boston Globe reporter Kevin Cullen to interview him.
According to Boston magazine, Mdidlesex Superior Court judge Maureen Hogan dismissed Curtatone’s lawsuit. Boston magazine reported:
“[T]he telephone call was not secret and, it follows, not an ‘interception,’” she writes in a judgment dated January 15, citing the definition used by the state in its wiretapping law. “The question of whether Mayor Curtatone could meaningfully consent to the audio recording when he was unaware of Minihane’s true identity is thus irrelevant.”
The Twitter account for The Kirk Minihane Show tweeted the ruling:
iMediaEthics has written to representatives from both sides.