Remember when Tiger Woods was just some boring guy who played golf and seemed to be happily married to a loving wife? Those were the days. Back in those days, the Gosselins were some of the sketchiest, most dysfunctional people going. They’re still pretty crazy, but they’ve gotten pushed to the side in favor of real celebrities with bigger issues. So it is with a heavy heart that I report that Jon Gosselin didn’t bother showing up for his (I typed “her” first, because Jon is a bitch) court hearing regarding the lawsuit and counter-suit between him and TLC.
Originally, TLC sued Jon for breach of contract, because he pretty much ended the show and because they said they had on an exclusive contract, and he was making paid appearances elsewhere, without TLC’s permission. Oh, and Jon violated his “morals clause” by bangin’ all of those sketchy women. Jon countersued, blah, blah, you remember. Anyway, Jon cared so much about the legal proceedings that he didn’t show up. Because he has the mind of a five year old.
Jon Gosselin, the star of TLC’s hit reality show “Jon and Kate Plus 8,” has not shown up to a hearing in his legal fight with the network.
Gosselin’s attorney, Mark Heller, had previously said the celebrity dad would attend Thursday’s hearing in Maryland, but the hearing has started without him.
The judge says Gosselin’s lawyers don’t plan to call witnesses.
The network wants the judge to stop Gosselin from making media appearances that it says violate his exclusive contract. TLC, which is owned by Silver Spring, Md.-based Discovery Communications, says the contract remains in force.
Gosselin says he has a right to earn a living as a media personality. He also claims in a countersuit that TLC violated Pennsylvania’s child labor laws in filming his eight children.
[From Huffington Post]
I just skimmed through Radar’s play-by-play of the court proceedings, and some of it is really interesting, but probably not for the reasons people think. It amazes me how people sign away so much of themselves just for a shot at reality stardom – and that’s what the case boils down to. How much control could TLC exert over Jon’s life? When is an affair not a personal matter, but a “breach of contract”? You get the idea. I couldn’t live like that, but I do think it’s an interesting case.
Oh, and Jon’s lawyer called TLC “mean-spirited”. Because he’s five years old too. Meanies!
UPDATE: TLC won, but I’m not sure exactly what that means. Radar claims that TLC got a “preliminary injunction” against Jon, and now Jon must “be questioned under oath regarding his outside income, statements about TLC and more.” Oh, and the Divorced Dads’ Club is not happening anytime soon. So, VICTORY!
I love how the idiot Jon is bitching about TLC violating PA’s child labor laws now, but he wasn’t at all concerned with them when he was on the show and raking in the dough.
Ugh go awaaaaaaaaaay
TLC’s lawyers will chew this chump up and spit him out – he’ll be less of a nobody by the time they get through with him. Who would want this loser, he’s got zero appeal and nada going for him. “3-D Loosah”.
this is so messed up… the only ppl i’m concerned about in all this is their kids. i read that possum head was a nurse and douchebag was unemployed. how are they gonna support the kids now that the show is over?
Not defending the guy, but if it wasn’t an evidentiary hearing, then there would be no reason for Jon to be there other than to observe. If it was an evidentiary hearing and his attorney didn’t want to call him as a witness, then he would have been told to stay away so as to avoid TLC calling him as a witness.
Sorry, but this is a nothing event.
Hey, don’t insult women, bitches and 5 yr olds by comparing us/them to JG thank you very much!
(I typed “her” first, because Jon is a bitch)
Wow Kaiser! Way to put down your sex! Gross.
I read Jon was in the computer industry and Kate was a nurse, those two need to get back to actual reality and co-parent like adults with regular jobs.
what is so deeply, desperately sad about this whole saga is that he is a father and yet so evidently unable to act as one
Get ’em TLC!!! Whoohwhahahaa karma does exist!
Who in the world gives advice to these people on the sunglasses? Granted if he is going for the ‘I wish to look like a total dipsh*t with no taste in eyewear’ thing, he TOTALLY nailed it, well done Jon, oh and p.s. lay off the booze, you have drunkface and you are getting a bit hefty.
how can TLC prevent him from doing anything and claim that their contract is still in force when the show isnt on anymore and has been cancelled? and they kicked him off anyway, even before the show was cancelled. Im confused. someone who is a lawyer please explain.
@ bros:
Jon was misbehaving as of Feb 2009, when he took Deanna (the school teacher) with him to Utah. After that, he started the bimbo parade, as well as all the other crap he pulled, like giving interviews to anybody who gave him a second glance and threw a few thousand bucks his way. He was paid for those interviews, which weren’t sanctioned by TLC. TLC has an “exclusivity” contract, meaning that anything he did outside of TLC had to be approved by them. Additionally, there is a “morality clause” in the contract, and since Jon paraded his tarts in front of the paparazzi and took girlfriends to France and stuff, he violated that as well.
Kate’s interviews were all sanctioned or approved by TLC, and she was cautious and/or guarded in her statements regarding Jon, and she never bad-mouthed TLC or the show. Jon, on the other hand, ran his mouth to everyone about how he didn’t want to do the show, how awful his marriage/wife/family was, etc…
NEVER BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU. Especially when that hand is a huge company with the best lawyers in the state.
bros;
Also, the only reason the show was cancelled is because Jon threatened TLC. Jon told them if they wouldn’t let him do what he wanted and TLC wouldn’t still pay him, he would make sure production of the show was halted.
TLC didn’t, Jon did, and in so doing he screwed his 8 children out of their livelihood. What a great father, right?
TLC threatened to remove him from the show for his behaviour, and when they did that he forced their hand and they kicked him off.
@bella-that is not a legal explanation. I am personally very glad jon killed the truman show his kids were living in, no matter what the motivation. that would have been ultimately more damaging than being screwed of their livelihood-which no 5 and 8 year old is even legally supposed to have a livelihood at that age. they shouldnt be working, they should be living as children and not earning $$ for their parents. they werent screwed of their money either. the gosselins have, or shouldh ave put enough away by now to live comfortably and put them throguh schol and should go back to work and support their kids like every other human.
bros,
No, not legal, but technical enough. And I totally agree that the children should never have been put in the position of financial providers. It is not a child’s role to support the parents or themselves. Yes, money should have been put away for them, and maybe it was. But if it was in trust funds, they may not be able to access it until the age of 18 or 25 or whatever age was decided for them. Neither Jon nor Kate strike me as the type to plan ahead for when the show was no longer their primary source of income. So, the bottom line is, Jon did put an end to the financial support of his family by pulling the stunts he pulled. He also made it impossible for Kate to continue with “Kate + 8” or whatever it was by refusing to allow the children to be filmed.
While I would never put my children out there for any reason, I believe Jon was being spiteful. He saw absolutely no problem with his children being filmed as long as he was being paid. It was only when he was no longer included that it became “detrimental” to the children. Hypocritical.
well, not to mention that the kid’s “job” was to go to a bunch of cool places, or have super-fancy campouts/movie night and other activities that I would have gone ape-sh*t to do when I was younger (okay, I’m still jealous) and then be filmed for it. It sounds like the kids had good relationships with the filming crew (perhaps a more stable “family”…) and that TLC had some flex with filming, so if the kids really didn’t want it, they could push it back a day. Just saying…those kids got some great experiences from the show that normal kids wouldn’t get.