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Opinions/Editorials Title: Chris Kyle, Author of American Sniper, Was a War Hero. He Was Also A Liar American Liar Why Jesse Ventura is likely to collect millions from Chris Kyle’s American Sniper. By Mark Joseph Stern Chris Kyle, author of the runaway best-seller American Sniper, was a military hero who killed 160 people during his four tours of duty in Iraq and is now the subject of an Oscar-nominated blockbuster. He was also a fabulist. Before his tragic murder in 2013, Kyle told a number of extremely dubious stories. In one tale, Kyle claimed he killed two carjackers at a gas station southwest of Dallas, and that his driver’s license directed local police officers who questioned him to contact the Department of Defense. Kyle also claimed he traveled to post-Katrina New Orleans with a sniper friend, set up his gun atop the Superdome, and picked off dozens of armed looters. The 160 kills are confirmed by the Pentagon. But there are absolutely no records of, or witnesses to, the latter stories. They are, perhaps intentionally, unverifiable. But it wasn’t these fantastical tales of vigilante justice that got Kyle into legal trouble. It was another, much less exciting story—one that wasn’t just unverifiable, but verifiably false. That tale, conveyed in a mere three pages of American Sniper, has put Kyle’s widow on the hook for $1.845 million in damages. And it may soon make Kyle’s publishers wish they approached the veteran’s claims with great deal of skepticism. Kyle’s legal difficulties emerged from a subchapter of American Sniper titled “Punching Out Scruff Face.” In it, Kyle describes beating up a former Navy SEAL (“Scruff Face”) after the SEAL claims American soldiers deserved to die in Iraq. Early drafts of the book identified the SEAL as Jesse Ventura, former governor of Minnesota and famed professional wrestler, but Kyle’s publishers removed the name for fear of a lawsuit. Nonetheless, in a radio interview following the book’s release, Kyle admitted that “Scruff Face” was Ventura, and he repeated the claim soon after on The O’Reilly Factor. American Sniper shot to the top of Amazon’s best-seller list, becoming a smash hit for its publisher, HarperCollins, selling more than 1.5 million copies by July of 2014. There was, however, a problem: The Ventura story wasn’t true, and Ventura meant to prove it. So he took Kyle to trial, suing him—and, after he died, his estate—for defamation and unjust enrichment. In the United States, defamation cases are extremely difficult to win, thanks to the First Amendment. When allegedly defamatory statements pertain to a public figure, the plaintiff mustn’t just prove those statements were false. He has to prove the defendant made those statements with “actual malice”—that is, knowledge that they were false or with “reckless disregard” for their falsity. Very few defamation plaintiffs can make it over the high bar of actual malice. Ventura made it. On July 29, 2014, a federal jury returned from six days of deliberations to award Ventura $1.845 million in damages—specifically, $500,000 for defamation and about $1.345 million for unjust enrichment. (In other words, Kyle unjustly profited from defaming Ventura, and so his estate must give Ventura some of that money.) Kyle’s widow, Taya Kyle, promptly filed for “judgment as a matter of law,” asking the trial judge to reverse’s the jury’s verdict because the jury clearly got it wrong. Failing that, she asked for an entirely new trial. The judge denied both requests, defending the jury’s verdict as legally and factually justifiable. Kyle’s widow is currently appealing the decision; her odds of winning appear quite low. ...snip... This suit is the second of Ventura’s one-two punch, and from here, it looks like a knockout. During the first trial, Ventura’s attorneys uncovered records of HarperCollins’ negligence in fact-checking Kyle’s book, as well as evidence that HarperCollins specifically touted the Ventura story to drum up publicity. Kyle’s ghostwriters spoke with only one person who claimed to have witnessed the fight, a friend of Kyle’s who told a different version of the story that lacked Ventura’s offensive remarks. No one from HarperCollins contacted Ventura or his representatives to verify the story. And though Kyle claimed Ventura appeared at a SEAL graduation afterward with a black eye—where “everybody was laughing” and asking “Who beat the shit out of him?”—HarperCollins never asked a member of the graduating class whether they saw Ventura’s injury. (A photograph from the event shows a clear image of Ventura—with no black eye.) It gets worse for HarperCollins. Despite the tenuous source of the Ventura story, HarperCollins quickly saw it as a publicity gold mine. After Kyle identified “Scruff Face” as Ventura in a radio interview on The Opie & Anthony Show, HarperCollins editor Peter Hubbard wrote in an email that the publicity from the story was “priceless.” HarperCollins publicist Sharon Rosenblum described the Ventura kerfuffle as “hot hot hot,” immediately arranging for Kyle to retell the tale on The O’Reilly Factor. Sales of American Sniper—which, up to that point, were fairly modest—spiked dramatically, apparently in conjunction with interest in the Ventura story. After the O’Reilly appearance, Ventura publicly denied Kyle’s accusations. Yet Rosenblum arranged for Kyle to tell the story again on The Opie & Anthony Show, and HarperCollins printed several new editions of the book that still featured the “Scruff Face” section. (It was finally removed after Ventura won his suit.) Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 67. Don’t pity the publishers too much, though. In the midst of this legal drama, the movie adaption of American Sniper has shattered box office records and brought in well over $100 million. HarperCollins is sure to make a killing off royalties from the film, and off sales from the new movie tie-in edition of American Sniper. Even if Ventura wins millions in his second lawsuit, the publishing house may well walk away from this debacle with a healthy profit remaining, just as Kyle’s widow will do. The moral of Kyle’s story, then: It pays to lie.
#2. To: Pericles (#1) It pays to lie. As Jesse has repeatedly proven.
#4. To: Otter (#2) It pays to lie. Yes, Kyle lied and Jesse got the court to have Kyle's estate pay him almost $2 million dollars.
#6. To: Pericles (#4) (Edited) Jesse lied to become rich so he is respected by people who are conspiracy whackos, lefties and expats.
#7. To: Otter (#6) (Edited) And Ventura was respected and believed enough by a jury and judge who awarded him $2 million of Kyle's money because Kyle libeled him. Meanwhile, that braintrust Kyle thought bringing a vet with PTSD to a shooting range was good therapy. God or Darwin passed judgement.
#27. To: Pericles (#7) Kyle wasn't cross examined. I used to give Ventura a little respect as I didn't agree with him much but he made a few points. I think Kyle kicked his ass.
#34. To: A K A Stone, Pericles (#27) Jesse Ventura was awarded $500,000 on his defamation claim. He was awarded $1,345,477.25 on his unjust enrichment claim. When Chris Kyle died, the executor of his estate was substituted as the defendant. That was his wife. The district court reviewed the earlier proceedings in the document below before denying the estate's motion for judgment as a matter of law or a new trial. Defendant's appeal is pending before the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. Publisher Harper Collins said it would remove the offending "Scruff Face" content from future editions of the book. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCOURTS-mnd-0_12-cv-00472/pdf/USCOURTS-mnd-0_12-cv-00472-2.pdf
CASE 0:12-cv-00472-RHK-JJK Document 415 Filed 11/26/14 Page 1 of 24 The following provides an insight to the thoughts of the jury. http://www.startribune.com/local/269697941.html
Aug. 3: Juror describes how jury reached split decision in Jesse Ventura defamation trial If Ventura produced verified and time relevant photos of himself without bruising, I would find his evidence persuasive. Blood thinners cause one to exhibit bruises after very little bumping or hitting because it inhibits the clotting process.
nerdbert As a general matter, I was doubtful when Kyle claimed Ventura said, among a bunch of SEALs, “You deserve to lose a few.” That just seems out of character coming from the mouth of any SEAL/UDT member at any time. Snopes.com has a file on the three mentioned claims of Chirs Kyle; the alleged altercation with Jesse Ventura, the alleged shooting from the Superdome, and the alleged hijacking incident. http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/kyleclaims.asp
Kyle File - - - Kyle's widow claimed they planned to so donate. Had they done so, there would have been little estate for Ventura to claim over $1M from. http://www.hlntv.com/article/2015/01/26/chris-kyle-american-sniper-facts
7. Speaking of which... Despite frequent claims that "American Sniper" book proceeds would go to help families of U.S. service members, trial testimony revealed almost all of it went to the Kyles. KTVT reported Taya Kyle cried frequently while testifying that gift-tax restrictions prevented them from donating more than $100,000 of the more than $3 million the book earned in royalties.
#35. To: nolu chan, Pericles (#34) 7. Speaking of which... Despite frequent claims that "American Sniper" book proceeds would go to help families of U.S. service members, trial testimony revealed almost all of it went to the Kyles. KTVT reported Taya Kyle cried frequently while testifying that gift-tax restrictions prevented them from donating more than $100,000 of the more than $3 million the book earned in royalties. Which is why I said earlier that I would have to see proof that "all proceeds went to charity". People hear that and just stop asking questions apparently. Which is why these SEAL profiteers and their publishers and agents use this tactic.
While not naming Plaintiff in print, Kyle confirmed in television, radio, and print interviews that “Scruff Face” was Plaintiff. In early January 2012, Kyle appeared on the Opie & Anthony Show, a talk-radio program, and the O’Reilly Factor, a talk show, retelling the above-quoted story about Plaintiff and repeating his alleged statement, “You deserve to lose a few guys.” The story also appeared on FOX News. Kyle's book was floundering. No one was interested. So he ginned up some libels against Ventura, a few lies about killing two guys at a gas station, and his obvious lies about joining up with a SEAL buddy to snipe armed looters in NOLA during Katrina. And Fox News played a major role in promoting Kyle and his lies about Ventura. There is a reason for all this free book advertising. They are all Murdoch-owned.
And William Morrow was the publisher of American Sniper. It's a Murdoch tabloid-style scam, start to finish. The marketing plan seems to have been to attract attention from a largely uninterested public. So Willam Morrow, Kyle's agent, and Murdoch's FNC all worked in tandem to promote the libels against Ventura, just to gin up controversy about it. The Left predictably fell for this strategy and created more controversy on Twitter/Facebook. And a movie destined for obscurity becomes a hit due solely to the controversy. We should never forget that Murdoch's real background is his expertise in yellow journalism and tabloids. And using his broad media empire to the full extent. He operates this way internationally, not just in the States.
#36. To: TooConservative (#35) I see above they are trying to claim now that Ventura is not a real "SEAL" - he is though.
#39. To: Pericles, GarySpFc, sneakypete (#36) I see above they are trying to claim now that Ventura is not a real "SEAL" - he is though. He was UDT 12 when he was in. UDT started in WW II and lasted through the early Eighties. SEALs started around 1965. Ventura was in UDT in the mid-Seventies. Both groups shared the same harsh BUDS training. The SEALs got a lot more and much broader training than the WW II style UDT guys did who were in the business of mining ships and ports and seaside factories and warehouses and being specialists in amphibious landings. Which is what Ventura's training for UDT was for. Others who did go on to serve in Vietnam did support amphibious landings most often. Ventura was only part of UDT 12, never the SEALs. I think there is some confusion over the overlap between the two programs as SEALs started small and grew to overtake and finally absorb the UDT organization over 20 years. And they always did share the same core training program. So UDTs do get included in ex-SEAL activities even if they weren't ever actual SEALs. Because they all did the terrifyng BUDS training. A very exclusive club. Anyway, that is my understanding of the UDT/SEAL timeline and when Ventura was in UDT.
#40. To: TooConservative (#39) UDT started in WW II and lasted through the early Eighties. Really? I thought the Navy had done away with UDT by the late 60's. SEALs started around 1965. I went to jump school with sailors wearing SEAL team patches on their fatigues in 1964. I had no idea what SEALS were,so I asked them about it. They were former UDT members who were transitioning over to the SEAL teams. Guys in the early to mid-20's that were already E-6's. That was rare in 64. Ventura was in UDT in the mid-Seventies. Maybe early 70's,but he was still on active duty with a UDT in the Philippines while the VN war was going on and the Navy was sending SEALS to the Delta in VN because he was asked to volunteer for a SEAL team,which included a 6 month tour in VN,and refused to volunteer.
#41. To: sneakypete (#40) (Edited) FWIW: Wiki: "In 1983, after additional SEAL training, the UDTs were re-designated as SEAL Teams or Swimmer Delivery Vehicle Teams (SDVTs). SDVTs have since been re-designated SEAL Delivery Vehicle Teams." Apparently, they still had at least a few UDT units active until '83 when the SEALs finally absorbed them.
Maybe early 70's,but he was still on active duty with a UDT in the Philippines while the VN war was going on and the Navy was sending SEALS to the Delta in VN because he was asked to volunteer for a SEAL team,which included a 6 month tour in VN,and refused to volunteer. That sounds consistent with other pieces I've read about him. Not exactly a star-spangled military career as these things go.
#60. To: TooConservative (#41) That sounds consistent with other pieces I've read about him. Not exactly a star-spangled military career as these things go. Not so sure I would agree with that if he had just had the class to stay truthful about his duty. Face it,being on a UDT team gave you plenty to brag about even if you never went into combat.
#67. To: sneakypete (#60) Face it,being on a UDT team gave you plenty to brag about even if you never went into combat. One would think. I think Ventura got used to talking a lot of smack hanging out in biker bars and as a pro wrestler. And he certainly traded on his elite military training throughout and into his little movie foray, appearing in Predator with Schwarzenegger. I never liked Ventura at all as wrestler or actor. I think he was elected governor in a state so miserably mismanaged that even he looked pretty good for a while.
Replies to Comment # 67. #69. To: TooConservative (#67) I think Ventura got used to talking a lot of smack hanging out in biker bars and as a pro wrestler. I think so,too.
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