Getty Lawyer Accuses FX’s ‘Trust’ of ‘Cruel and Mean-Spirited’ Defamation
“More fitting titles would be ‘Lies’ or ‘Mistrust,'” Marty Singer says about series dramatizing kidnapping of John Paul Getty III
Reid Nakamura | March 16, 2018 @ 4:45 PM
Last Updated: March 16, 2018 @ 4:52 PM
Oliver Upton/FX
Ariadne Getty says FX has defamed her family by depicting her brother, J. Paul Getty III, as complicit in his own kidnapping in the network’s upcoming drama series “Trust.”
The letter, dated March 15 and signed by Getty’s attorney Marty Singer, calls the show a “wildly sensationalized false portrayal of the Getty family” for the way it depicts the 1973 kidnapping of her brother, J. Paul Getty III.
“It is ironic that you have titled your television series ‘Trust’,” the letter read. “More fitting titles would be ‘Lies’ or ‘Mistrust,’ since the defamatory story it tells about the Gettys colluding in the kidnapping is false and misleading, and viewers rightly ought to mistrust it.”
The Danny Boyle series stars Donald Sutherland as J. Paul Getty Sr., the oil tycoon whose grandson was kidnapped by the Italian mafia and held for ransom. Harris Dickinson, Hilary Swank, Michael Esper and Brendan Fraser also star. In January, executive producer Simon Beaufoy said he believed that the younger Getty had “actually kidnapped himself,” and that interpretation of events is featured in the series
Singer asserted that the series “[makes] it appear” as though Getty family members were complicit in the crime, which resulted in the younger Getty’s ear being removed and sent to a newspaper as a threat. He argued that even if the series doesn’t make the accusation explicit, “legal exposure … nevertheless arises from its defamatory implications.”
“You have falsified the dreadful story of Ariadne’s brother’s kidnapping to turn it into a cruel and mean-spirited defamatory depiction of the Getty family, maliciously and recklessly portraying them as greedily cooperating in and/or facilitating a kidnapping that left a family member mutilated,” Singer wrote. “‘Trust’ makes it appear as if the Getty family malevolently went along with and/or were part of a kidnapping scheme that resulted in the terrifying ordeal and the disfigurement of my client’s teenage brother. As such, ‘Trust defames the Gettys (including our client) and portrays them in an outrageous false light. This is unconscionable.”
The letter goes on to demand that FX make all 10 episodes of the series available for review, “since nobody bothered to seek [Getty’s] consent or input before proceeding to concoct it.”
'People v OJ Simpson': 9 Weird Facts It Didn't Include (Photos)
If you're watching "The People v OJ Simpson" in light of Simpson's release from prison, get ready for some surprises. But the most amazing details in the FX miniseries were true. And the show didn't even include some of the strangest facts about Simpson's life -- although some made it into ESPN's "OJ: Made in America" (pictured). Here are nine bizarre details FX left out.
1. Marcia Clark Was Packing
"In light of her high public profile, the detectives in the Simpson case had prevailed upon Clark to start carrying a gun," Jeffrey Toobin writes in "The Run of His Life."
Clark (played by Sarah Paulson) once missed a flight because she forgot about her gun and had to fill out federal forms to carry it.
FX
2. Johnnie Cochran: Two Times a Family Man
In the 1970s, Cochran had two families, one of which he kept secret from the other.
CNN
While living with his wife Barbara, Cochran (Courtney B. Vance) also had a relationship with his secretary, Patty, who later changed her last name to Cochran. They traveled, bought property and had a child together. He also had two daughters with Barbara.
FX
3. From Witness to Ghostwriter
Screenwriter Pablo Fenjves testified against Simpson about hearing the "plaintive wail" of Nicole Brown Simpson's Akita when she was murdered. Later, he ghost-wrote Simpson's book "If I Did It."
4. Lance Ito Bashed the State Supreme Court
Toobin writes that when Ito (Kenneth Choi) was a prosecutor, he despised California's liberal Supreme Court so much that he had a custom vanity plate referring to them as "7 BOZOS."
FX
5. Ito Had Crazy Game
Ito met his future wife, Margaret York, in the most unromantic setting possible: at a homicide scene, at 4 a.m.
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6. OJ Was Jealous of Kato
The reason Kato Kaelin was living with OJ, Toobin writes, is that he had formerly been a tenant in Nicole Brown Simpson's guest house.
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When Nicole moved into a new home, she intended for Kato to move in and help babysit her kids. But Simpson objected to Kato living under the same roof as his ex-wife. So he let him stay at his own home.
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"OJ's offer thus simultaneously removed a potential rival for Nicole's affections and took money out of his ex-wife's pocket," Toobin wrote.
Getty Images
7. There Was a Gross Mark Fuhrman-Nicole Brown Simpson Rumor
There were unsubstantiated reports that Mark Furhman (Steven Pasquale) bragged to other officers about having sex with Nicole Brown Simpson and complimented her "boob job." Two detectives who were said to have heard of the alleged bragging later denied they had.
YouTube
Johnnie Cochran repeatedly brought up the "boob job" talk in court on Sept. 1, 1995. Here's the transcript.
FX
8. OJ's Son v OJ
Simpson's son, Jason, once took a bat to OJ's statue of himself. Jason said in a deposition that he wasn't mad at his dad: "I wanted a party, and I was gonna throw a party, and I got busted. My dad found out that I was going to have a party that night. He said I couldn't have a party."
FX
9. The Juror Who Gave the Black Power Salute Was an Ex-Black Panther
As OJ Simpson walks free, here are some details that didn’t make it into FX’s devastating miniseries
If you're watching "The People v OJ Simpson" in light of Simpson's release from prison, get ready for some surprises. But the most amazing details in the FX miniseries were true. And the show didn't even include some of the strangest facts about Simpson's life -- although some made it into ESPN's "OJ: Made in America" (pictured). Here are nine bizarre details FX left out.