Showing posts with label Lorna Pardy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lorna Pardy. Show all posts
Friday, February 06, 2015
Levant Loses Another!
It's been awhile since Lorna Pardy has been in the news. Back in 2008, she was verbally assaulted by comedian Guy Earle at Zesty's Comedy Club in Vancouver. She took him to the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal, and won. At the time, some, Ezra Levant in particular, were pushing the notion that this case was about the exercise of free speech. It wasn't. It was more about a lowly restaurant functionary going off on a customer. In any event, Ezra said things. And Ms. Pardy commenced a civil action against him. However, the suit lay still-born for a number years until, in 2013, after the various appeals of the original wound up, Ms. Pardy served Ezra with a notice of civil claim. Ezra moved that the case be dismissed due to the long delay but, on January 29th of this year, the judge said no. So, throw another lawsuit on the pile; Ezra's going back to court. And when Ezra goes to court, Ezra tends to lose.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
The Bad Comic Vs. The Rowdy Lesbian, Part Bazillion
I've written about the Earle/Pardy case many a times. Essentially, an amateur comedian named Guy Earle went off on a lesbian couple during an open mike comedy show that he was MCing. One of the couple, Lorna Pardy, took Earle and the restaurant owner to the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal, claiming that she had been discriminated against under Section 8 of the B.C. Human Rights Code, which disallows "discrimination in accommodation, service and facility". Basically, she claimed that a restaurant employee--Earle--had verbally/physically assaulted her because she was lesbian. Pardy won, handily. But Earle appealed, and attempted to convince BC Supreme Court that his assault on Pardy was part of his performance, and therefore protected speech. Yesterday the court told him "no way":
“In the restaurant that night, Mr Earle was an emcee who reacted to the disruption caused by the movement of some patrons, including Ms Pardy, to a new table (by the restaurant management). Ms Pardy and her companions that night were not hecklers. And Mr Earle was not giving a comedy performance when he launched into his tirade of ugly words directed at Ms Pardy.”
The judge also referenced Whatcott to establish the notion some limits to free speech are "reasonable", but the gist of the ruling is, as noted above, that Earle was not engaged in an artistic performance at the time. He was acting more along the lines of a waiter who flew off the handle at the sight of lesbians. So his appeal to free speech was inappropriate on this occasion.
“In the restaurant that night, Mr Earle was an emcee who reacted to the disruption caused by the movement of some patrons, including Ms Pardy, to a new table (by the restaurant management). Ms Pardy and her companions that night were not hecklers. And Mr Earle was not giving a comedy performance when he launched into his tirade of ugly words directed at Ms Pardy.”
The judge also referenced Whatcott to establish the notion some limits to free speech are "reasonable", but the gist of the ruling is, as noted above, that Earle was not engaged in an artistic performance at the time. He was acting more along the lines of a waiter who flew off the handle at the sight of lesbians. So his appeal to free speech was inappropriate on this occasion.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Guy Earle Loses
Guy Earle is the "comedian", and I use the term loosely, who went off on a couple of Lesbians when they had the nerve to kiss during an impromptu comedy night that he was MCing several years back. I've written extensively about the case here, and the (107 page) decision itself is here. However, if you want a hint as to why the Tribunal blew off Mr. Earle's defense, try this:
• Mr. Earle made two sets of comments from the stage at Zesty’s, to and about Ms.Pardy and her friends, and recorded above, including referring to them as “fucking cunts”, “stupid cunts”, “stupid dykes”, and “fucking dyke cunts”;
• Mr. Earle cornered Ms. Pardy and continued to physically intimidate and verbally abuse her by the bar as she returned from the washroom, including referring to her as “fucking stupid dyke, stupid fucking bitch”, and he grabbed and broke her sunglasses;
• The Zesty respondents failed to restrain Mr. Earle, protect Ms. Pardy from his verbal or physical assault, or otherwise take effective steps to remedy his treatment of her.
And believe me, there's plenty more of that in the ruling. Mr. Earle, you are not only a lousy comedian, you behaved like a thug.
An interesting bit from the ruling. As you may know, Earle has claimed that Ms. Pardy was drunk and obnoxious in the club that night, and thus he was just "slapping down" a heckler:
[83] I do not accept Mr. Miedzinski’s evidence that at first Mr. Earle was “professional” in addressing the three women as “hecklers”. As will become apparent, no other witness said that the women were heckling at that point, and none of Mr. Earle’s words in response to anything they did or said subsequently could fairly be called “professional”.
And further:
[494] Though the incident in May 2007 was relatively brief, six months later, in his YouTube interview, after the complaint was filed, Mr. Earle publicly made false and inflammatory statements about Ms. Pardy’s conduct at Zesty’s which seriously exacerbated and prolonged the effect on her of his earlier actions.
It was in this video that Earle referred to Pardy as a drunken heckler.
Update: Guy says he's taking it to the Supreme Court.
• Mr. Earle made two sets of comments from the stage at Zesty’s, to and about Ms.Pardy and her friends, and recorded above, including referring to them as “fucking cunts”, “stupid cunts”, “stupid dykes”, and “fucking dyke cunts”;
• Mr. Earle cornered Ms. Pardy and continued to physically intimidate and verbally abuse her by the bar as she returned from the washroom, including referring to her as “fucking stupid dyke, stupid fucking bitch”, and he grabbed and broke her sunglasses;
• The Zesty respondents failed to restrain Mr. Earle, protect Ms. Pardy from his verbal or physical assault, or otherwise take effective steps to remedy his treatment of her.
And believe me, there's plenty more of that in the ruling. Mr. Earle, you are not only a lousy comedian, you behaved like a thug.
An interesting bit from the ruling. As you may know, Earle has claimed that Ms. Pardy was drunk and obnoxious in the club that night, and thus he was just "slapping down" a heckler:
[83] I do not accept Mr. Miedzinski’s evidence that at first Mr. Earle was “professional” in addressing the three women as “hecklers”. As will become apparent, no other witness said that the women were heckling at that point, and none of Mr. Earle’s words in response to anything they did or said subsequently could fairly be called “professional”.
And further:
[494] Though the incident in May 2007 was relatively brief, six months later, in his YouTube interview, after the complaint was filed, Mr. Earle publicly made false and inflammatory statements about Ms. Pardy’s conduct at Zesty’s which seriously exacerbated and prolonged the effect on her of his earlier actions.
It was in this video that Earle referred to Pardy as a drunken heckler.
Update: Guy says he's taking it to the Supreme Court.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Human Rights Potpourri: Guy Earle Wants To Play Martyr On The Cheap; Boisson Ruling Appealed
So comedian Guy Earle instructed his lawyer to walk out on his BCHRT hearing in Vancouver yesterday, claiming "abuse of process". I guess that's one way to keep your legal fees down. However, it left testimony like this go (because Ms. Pardy was cross-examined by a non-lawyer) unchallenged:
Did Guy Earle get upset because you kissed your friend, she was asked. She said she thought this was not right though she didn't know what Earle was thinking. Her girlfriend had simply kissed her on her cheek because she was glad to see her out as this was not a common occurrence. They were not trying to make a scene (as previously reported by Earle).
She said she thought Earle thought they were causing a disturbance when they were talking to two waitresses about their patio bill.
[...]
They had spent the time listening to another comedy act, a short set, and talking to comedians. [Lorna Pardy] went to the bathroom to gather herself, and on the way back Earle at the bar physically assaulted her. (I assume this was a reference to Earle snatching her glasses and smashing them.) Her party were in shock and stayed because they couldn't get up from the table. They left around 11.30.
I don't know. It seems a bit of a stretch to argue that this behavior would have been a legitimate part of Guy Earle's "comedy" act.
On a somewhat related note: in December Stephen Boisson won the court challenge of his
conviction by the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal for hateful messaging directed at gays. Now, Darren Lund, the University of Calgary professor who brought the original HRC complaint, is appealing that decision. Not much in the way of detail yet, but if you scroll down through the FreeD comments you will see that Mr. Boisson has confirmed.
Did Guy Earle get upset because you kissed your friend, she was asked. She said she thought this was not right though she didn't know what Earle was thinking. Her girlfriend had simply kissed her on her cheek because she was glad to see her out as this was not a common occurrence. They were not trying to make a scene (as previously reported by Earle).
She said she thought Earle thought they were causing a disturbance when they were talking to two waitresses about their patio bill.
[...]
They had spent the time listening to another comedy act, a short set, and talking to comedians. [Lorna Pardy] went to the bathroom to gather herself, and on the way back Earle at the bar physically assaulted her. (I assume this was a reference to Earle snatching her glasses and smashing them.) Her party were in shock and stayed because they couldn't get up from the table. They left around 11.30.
I don't know. It seems a bit of a stretch to argue that this behavior would have been a legitimate part of Guy Earle's "comedy" act.
On a somewhat related note: in December Stephen Boisson won the court challenge of his
conviction by the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal for hateful messaging directed at gays. Now, Darren Lund, the University of Calgary professor who brought the original HRC complaint, is appealing that decision. Not much in the way of detail yet, but if you scroll down through the FreeD comments you will see that Mr. Boisson has confirmed.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Guy Earle: My "Waiter" Metaphor Vindicated
"Restaurants have an obligation to provide a service that is free of discrimination," Cousineau [Lawyer for Complainant Lorna Pardy] said. "If you go to a restaurant and the waiter comes up to you and calls you names based on your race or your disability, or whatever, even if you are still technically getting your food and getting your drink you are still being subjected to discriminatory treatment in the provision of that service."
Moreover, Cousineau alleges that the comments were not made during Earle’s official artistic performance.
"This isn’t the case of a comedian standing on stage and saying ‘two lesbians walk into a bar.’ It’s the case of individuals in the audience being targeted and being subjected to slurs about their sex and sexual orientation," she said.
An important thing to note here is that, Zesty's (the Vancouver restaurant where this all took place) was only partly given over to comedy club business on the evening in question, and one of Pardy's supporters, at least, has indicated that the two lesbians were not there for the comedic performances:
No, the ladies did NOT go to Zesty's to see the show. But when the patio closed, they were taken to the table by the stage by the waitresses.
Moreover, Cousineau alleges that the comments were not made during Earle’s official artistic performance.
"This isn’t the case of a comedian standing on stage and saying ‘two lesbians walk into a bar.’ It’s the case of individuals in the audience being targeted and being subjected to slurs about their sex and sexual orientation," she said.
An important thing to note here is that, Zesty's (the Vancouver restaurant where this all took place) was only partly given over to comedy club business on the evening in question, and one of Pardy's supporters, at least, has indicated that the two lesbians were not there for the comedic performances:
No, the ladies did NOT go to Zesty's to see the show. But when the patio closed, they were taken to the table by the stage by the waitresses.
By the way, Guy Earle has a blog/website devoted to his adventures, which was dead for many months and has become active again in the runup to his hearing. For example:
Admittedly, that quote is a bit of a cherry pick on my part.
The distinction above is important to note, because as I've said several times, some will want to portray this as a "free speech" case and it really isn't; the fact that words were used to discriminate is incidental in this case. And were anyone to repeal the relevant section of the B.C. code (section 8), it would leave the provincial analogue to section 13 of the federal code (which is called section 7) in place. Some people with broader anti-HRC agendas may want to see the distinction elided.
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