The lawsuit caught the attention of other funny people like Bobcat Goldthwait, David Cross and Reggie Watts, who all showed their support online. Pickett and Prueher needed help – by their own admission, they were “going broke” to defend themselves. But what really saved their comedy bacon was when Vice News decided to produce a story about their dilemma.
Vice News
Vice, quite rightly, positioned the story as a First Amendment battle, and a deliberately silly battle. It was the first instance Vice could find where a media company attempted to retaliate against pranksters.
Things turned around when Vice contacted Gray Television to comment on their story. Several attempts to reach the company’s lawyers were unsuccessful. And then suddenly the guys were offered a settlement. Or, in Pickett’s words, “they gave in.”
Nick and Joe were elated, although they reluctantly agreed never to “use false information to appear on a gray TV channel again”.
But, Joe points out, other news stations are still fair game. “I’m thinking specifically of Sinclair,” he says, nudging the notoriously conservative broadcast group and its slew of local TV stations.
