Alf Clausen, who spent 27 years as the animated show's lead composer, says Fox is being deceitful about the motivations for his firing.
As the old saying goes, no business is like show business. For one thing, show business is speech business. But what acts by an entertainment producer are legitimately free speech, and what acts are plain ol' discrimination? That's not always clear. Just look at the ongoing case of Alf Clausen, the 79-year-old who was fired as Simpsons composer after 27 years of celebrated work on the animated classic. As his lawsuit heads toward an important hearing next week, Clausen looks to undercut Fox's positioning that this dispute relates to an important First Amendment issue.
Clausen is suing Disney and its Fox divisions with the claim that his termination was due to age and disability discrimination. The musician says he has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and he objects to how Simpsons producers dumped him in favor of Hans Zimmer's company.
In April, in an attempt to defeat the suit, Fox gave a different side of the story. According to the defendant's court papers, Clausen was fired after producers raised concerns about his work in connection with one particular hip-hopthemed episode of the animated show. Simpsons producer James L. Brooks wondered if Clausen was the right person to prepare rap music, while others allegedly were disturbed by the discovery that Clausen had been delegating some of the work of composing music for The Simpsons to others, including his son Scott Clausen. Overall, according to declarations by other top producers on the show, the feeling was that the music could be improved by replacing Clausen.
"Defendants have presented evidence that the decision not to use Clausen as composer in future episodes of The Simpsons had speech-related motivations," wrote an attorney for the Simpsons defendants.
"Lies and deceit," responds Clausen's just-filed opposition. (Read in full here.)
"Mr. Clausens evidence demonstrates that, since at least 2008, Fox had known he regularly delegated the composition of music to members of his team," states the brief. "This fact is confirmed not only through Fox's own cue sheets, but emails between Matt Selman, Al Jean, Carol Farhat and even James Brooks, wherein discussions about Scott Clausen and others composing cues are undeniable."
The plaintiff's attorneys then add, "The notion that Mr. Clausen was unable to capture the showrunners vision is equally ludicrous. Mr. Clausen won two Emmys, five Annie Awards and became the most nominated composer in Emmy history, amassing a record 23 Emmy nominations for his work on The Simpsons. The mere fact that Al Jean and Matt Selman routinely skipped the recording sessions suggests how much faith and confidence they had in Mr. Clausen delivering their vision."
As for whether Clausen is capable of doing hip-hop, the composer says Brooks is only revealing "discriminatory ageist beliefs that Mr. Clausen was only good at old styles of music, rather [than] up-to-date genres, such as rap, electronic, etc. even though the evidence and his work history prove otherwise."
At an Aug. 5 hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court, the issue for the judge won't necessarily be whetherSimpsons producers were justified in replacing Clausen, who also says he's worked within budget parameters. Instead, the question may be: Was the firing about the music? Because if it's about the music, Fox stands a very good chance of prevailing on its anti-SLAPP motion. Clausen implies that his firing wasn't about the music.
California's SLAPP statute is intended to swiftly dispense with frivolous lawsuits interfering with someone's free speech. Under the first prong of SLAPP analysis, a judge examines whether a legal action arises from an act furthering a defendant's First Amendment activity in connection with a public issue. That analysis gets somewhat complicated with regards to entertainment and media companies. Courts don't want to overlook discrimination, but on the other hand, judges are mindful that these entities produce speech as a regular function. That sometimes means that a controversial decision by an entertainment or media defendant can be connected to a significant issue of speech. No wonder the topic has been the subject of very recent appellate opinions (like this one, or that one).
So, was Clausen's firing motivated by a desire to improve the music on The Simpsons as Fox contends or is that reasoning just pretextual? And how does a judge weight the evidence? Here, Clausen's attorneys Thomas Girardi and Ebby Bakhtiar attempt to convince the judge that Fox's prior knowledge about work delegation, among other things now in submission, add up to an inference that Fox is being deceitful with respect to the reasoning behind the decision to terminate the show's longtime composer.
If Clausen doesn't prevail on this point, L.A. Superior Court Judge Michael L. Stern will then turn toward an analysis of the merit of Clausen's claims. Under the second prong of the SLAPP statute, a plaintiff must establish a probability of prevailing before moving any further in the case. Clausen's lawyers translate this as meaning the suit need only show "minimal merit" (which they believe they have met), although Fox is likely to argue the screen is higher, particularly given the legitimate rationale they have offered forClausen's termination.
Read more:
- University round table examines challenges to free speech - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- University of Worcester fares well in free speech study - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- A line beyond which one may not go - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Councillor accused of stifling free speech after making complaint against counterparts social media use - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- The French Debate: Free Speech Versus Hate Speech - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Church of England removing vicars right to free speech? - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- FREE SPEECH ZONE s08e06 (2-7-15) - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Charlie Hebdo/The Interview: Free Speech: Free to Murder? - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Free Speech & Liberty Pizza House opening comment 2015 - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- 2015=02-01 Limits of Free Speech - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Health Free Speech Petition and Litigation - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Putin Popularity Rating: Russian President's 80% approval rating may stem from free speech violation - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Steven Pinker's "Why free speech is fundamental" - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- "Islam & Free Speech" - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Free Speech and the Battle for Western Culture - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- (UPDATED) CAIR Officials Nationwide Condemn Charlie Hebdo Attack, Defend Free Speech - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- The Koch Brothers and $889 million free speech dollars - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Mark Zuckerberg Reverses Decision On Free Speech - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Rick Perry: Court ruling imposes chilling effect on free speech - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- TAVIS SMILEY | FREE SPEECH IN AMERICA | January 26-27, 2015 - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Lord Jamar: USA's Only About Free Speech When It's Convenient - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Free Speech vs Politically Correct (Liberal Hypocrisy) - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Sharif Nashashibi, Suzanne Nossel, Munir Pervaiz Saami discusses free speech - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- FREE SPEECH ZONE s08e04 (1-24-15) - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Do I Think #6: Voting, Free Speech & #GamerGate - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Chris Hedges: Roots of Terrorism, Free Speech Hypocrisy & Translating #JeSuisCharlie - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Q&A Banning Haters: What About Free Speech? - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Putin's grip on free speech - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Why Saudi Arabia Is Flogging A Free Speech Activist - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Islamists Deny Media Access at At Muslim Free Speech Conference - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Metallica- Free Speech For The Dumb - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- 1st Peoples, Palestine, and the Crushing of Free Speech - Steven Salaita - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Free Speech Hypocrisy In France - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Pope clarifies position on free speech - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Muslim response to Charlie Hebdo Attack - Free speech or insult? - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Charlie Hebdo, double standards and free speech - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Gays, Islam, Free Speech - Tony Perkins, Bill Maher & MORE! LiberalViewer Sunday Clip Round-Up 91 - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Free Speech: Mercury is Speech, Venus is Values - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- The Pope Supports "Free Speech" (sort of) - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Ring of Fire on Free Speech TV - 01/18/2015 (FULL EPISODE) - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Mad about free speech and North Korea? Hack back, says group - February 14th, 2015 [February 14th, 2015]
- Ring of Fire on Free Speech TV - 02/08/2015 (FULL EPISODE) - Video - February 14th, 2015 [February 14th, 2015]
- Ring of Fire on Free Speech TV - 02/01/2015 (FULL EPISODE) - Video - February 14th, 2015 [February 14th, 2015]
- MP George Galloway on Free Speech Charlatans & Austin Powers Foreign Policy in Syria - Video - February 14th, 2015 [February 14th, 2015]
- Limited Free Speech Isn't Free Speech - Video - February 14th, 2015 [February 14th, 2015]
- Volokh Conspiracy: Murder at Copenhagen debate on free speech attended by Swedish Muhammad cartoonist - February 15th, 2015 [February 15th, 2015]
- One dead after shooting at free speech event in Denmark featuring controversial artist - February 15th, 2015 [February 15th, 2015]
- Gunman kills 1 in attack on free speech event in Denmark - February 15th, 2015 [February 15th, 2015]
- Deadly shooting at Copenhagen free speech event - February 15th, 2015 [February 15th, 2015]
- Are Students Free to Speak Their Mind? Well at Southampton, yes. - February 15th, 2015 [February 15th, 2015]
- Shooting targets free speech event in Denmark, killing one - February 15th, 2015 [February 15th, 2015]
- Police: 1 dead in shooting at Copenhagen free speech event - February 15th, 2015 [February 15th, 2015]
- The Heat debates free speech and assembly in France - Video - February 15th, 2015 [February 15th, 2015]
- Detroit's Campus Martius: Banning Free Speech in Public Space - Video - February 15th, 2015 [February 15th, 2015]
- Dr William Lane Craig: The Moral Argument (Proof of God) - Video - February 15th, 2015 [February 15th, 2015]
- Did Pope Francis Preach Violence? - Video - February 15th, 2015 [February 15th, 2015]
- Danish police kill gunman believed behind 2 shootings - February 15th, 2015 [February 15th, 2015]
- Danish shooter had gangland past - February 15th, 2015 [February 15th, 2015]
- Free speech in Britain: Police tracking people who bought ... - February 15th, 2015 [February 15th, 2015]
- Copenhagen shooting: Free speech seminar attacked - Video - February 15th, 2015 [February 15th, 2015]
- Professor Advocates Violence Against White Racist - Video - February 15th, 2015 [February 15th, 2015]
- Muslim Coward Attempts to Murder Swedish Artist - Video - February 15th, 2015 [February 15th, 2015]
- Srsly Wrong - 41 - Free Speech Zone, Act 1 - Video - February 15th, 2015 [February 15th, 2015]
- Free Speech and Charming Ignorance - Video - February 15th, 2015 [February 15th, 2015]
- Police say Copenhagen gunman had criminal record, gang past - February 16th, 2015 [February 16th, 2015]
- Police say Copenhagen gunman had criminal record and gang past - February 16th, 2015 [February 16th, 2015]
- U.S. Funds The Terrorist To Take Our Freedoms - Video - February 16th, 2015 [February 16th, 2015]
- First Copenhagen shooting victim identified as film maker - Video - February 16th, 2015 [February 16th, 2015]
- Danes react to two fatal shootings - Video - February 16th, 2015 [February 16th, 2015]
- Danish police doing forensic investigation after islamic terrorist was shot dead, 15/2-2015 - Video - February 16th, 2015 [February 16th, 2015]
- Denmark: See BULLET-RIDDLED scene of first Copenhagen shooting - Video - February 16th, 2015 [February 16th, 2015]
- Animatrix - Humans vs Machines HD - Video - February 16th, 2015 [February 16th, 2015]
- RickWells.us - General Jerry Boykin on UN Attempt To Prohibit Free Speech Regarding Islam - Video - February 16th, 2015 [February 16th, 2015]
- Copenhagen Krudttnden Cafe Street View - Video - February 16th, 2015 [February 16th, 2015]
- Muhammad Cartoonist Targeted! TSA Active Shooter VIDEO, The "Digital Dark Age" and more #TMS - Video - February 16th, 2015 [February 16th, 2015]
- Copenhagen free speech debate shooting: One dead - Video - February 16th, 2015 [February 16th, 2015]
- Germany: Copenhagen attacks, Ukraine ceasefire on Merkel's agenda - Video - February 17th, 2015 [February 17th, 2015]
- Copenhagen Denmark Shooting - Lars Vilks - Calling Cards Of Hoax Fake Crap - Video - February 17th, 2015 [February 17th, 2015]
- Danish prime minister visits - Video - February 17th, 2015 [February 17th, 2015]
- Second Person Dead In Separate Suspected Terror Shootings In Copenhagen - Video - February 17th, 2015 [February 17th, 2015]