|
Leno wins fight to make trial a laughing matter
'Tonight Show' called on guest comedians
By SCOTT HADLY
NEWS-PRESS SENIOR WRITER
Jay Leno can go ahead and make jokes about Michael Jackson; they just should be funny, a Santa Barbara Superior Court judge said Friday.
In response to a request from Mr. Leno's attorneys to clarify his broad gag order in the Jackson child molestation case, Judge Rodney Melville said he never expected Mr. Leno to stop making jokes about the pop star. The judge said his gag order was only meant to limit the "Tonight Show" host from commenting on matters for which he is a witness.
"I'd like him to tell good jokes," Judge Melville said. "But I guess I can't control that."
Quips about the case and Mr. Jackson have been a regular part of Mr. Leno's nightly monologue since Mr. Jackson's 2003 arrest. Then last month, Mr. Leno was subpoenaed by the defense as a potential witness to testify about whether the accuser's family had contacted him by phone and asked for money. The judge's gag order prevents witnesses from discussing the case.
Mr. Leno's attorney, Theodore Boutrous, argued in court papers that limiting the comedian would violate his First Amendment rights and interfere with his ability to make a living.
The order hasn't stopped Mr. Leno from making Jackson jokes. For the past week, "The Tonight Show" has invited comedians on to tell the jokes for Mr. Leno.
On Thursday night, Mr. Leno, playing off that day's events in Santa Maria, came onto the set in pajama bottoms and a wig. Earlier that day, Mr. Jackson had been late to court because he was at Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital, complaining of a back injury. The judge threatened to have him arrested and his $3 million bail revoked if he didn't make it to court in an hour. Mr. Jackson arrived an hour later, looking disheveled and wearing blue silk pajama bottoms and sandals.
On "The Tonight Show," comedian Drew Carey, with Mr. Leno standing next to him, joked that authorities were looking for the boy wearing the pajama top.
In court on Friday, Mr. Jackson's attorneys said stopping Mr. Leno from making "very cruel jokes" about Mr. Jackson wouldn't put the comedian out of business.
But Judge Melville said he couldn't keep Mr. Leno from making cruel jokes.
"I don't think the Constitution allows that type of order," he said.
In a related matter, defense attorneys have argued that British journalist Martin Bashir, the first witness in the trial, should also be stopped from talking about the case. But the judge limited the gag order on Mr. Bashir, allowing him to "report this case just like any other journalist."
Mr. Bashir's 2003 television documentary, "Living with Michael Jackson," was shown to jurors. In the documentary, Mr. Jackson admits to sharing his bed with children, and it includes a segment in which the boy who now accuses him of molestation talks about his friendship with Mr. Jackson.
In February, ABC television aired another Bashir documentary about Mr. Jackson, and this month, the singer's defense attorneys asked that the indictment against Mr. Jackson be thrown out because the broadcast prejudiced his right to a fair trial.
Judge Melville denied that motion but said he would permit Mr. Jackson to respond to the program. After grand jury transcripts in the case were leaked to the Web site The Smoking Gun, the judge allowed Mr. Jackson to respond in a scripted interview with Geraldo Rivera. This time around, he will let Mr. Jackson respond but wants to review the statement first.
"This will be a more extensive request," said defense attorney Brian Oxman. "We don't want some witness to be able to do it and Mr. Jackson has to just sit here and take it."
e-mail: shadly@newspress.com
|
