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The Man Who Beat Glenn Beck
M. Caulfield / WireImage.com
The controversial cable titan was so angry over a Web site parodying his show that he sued—and lost. The site's owner talks to The Daily Beast about how much he enjoyed the battle.
Few hosts go after their targets harder than Glenn Beck, but apparently he throws punches a lot better than he takes them.
This week, Beck lost a legal battle to take down a parody site devoted to mocking the talk-show host’s use of innuendo and rumor in going after his political enemies. The domain name that provoked his ire was GlennBeckRapedAndMurderedAYoungGirlIn1990.com, whose main page pledged to “examine the vicious rumor” alluded to in the site's title.
“If he hadn’t gone after us, it probably would have quickly died out,” Eiland-Hall said.
The site's owner, Isaac Eiland-Hall, a 34-year-old computer-science student in Panama City, Florida, told The Daily Beast that the name was derived from a running joke on news site Fark.com's messageboards, which compared Beck's style to a routine by comedian Gilbert Gottfried at a Friar’s Club Roast in which he repeatedly denounced the nonexistent rumors that Bob Saget "raped and killed a girl in 1990." In repeating the rumor, of course, Gottfried succeeded in spreading it—thus roasting his fellow comic.
“I've long felt that Beck uses tactics like I satirized on the site,” Eiland-Hall told The Daily Beast in an email interview. He says he found “particularly egregious” an incident during Beck's CNN career in which he told Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), a Muslim, that he longed to challenge the congressman by saying: “Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies."
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Beck’s legal complaint pushed the story into the news and caused the site’s traffic to spike, Eiland-Hall said.
“If he hadn't gone after us, it probably would have quickly died out,” he said.
Eiland-Hall joined the battle, hiring First Amendment lawyer Marc Randazza to help argue his case.
Citing the landmark free-speech case Hustler Magazine v. Falwell, Randazza argued that the site was a clear parody and that it was “absurd to imagine a user who would be confused about whether or not Beck is an owner, author, sponsor, or endorser of the site.” Beck’s lawyers argued that the site was registered in “bad faith” and that by using his name in the domain, users could be confused whether the site was operated by Beck himself. (A spokesman for Beck declined to comment for this article).
Eiland-Hall told The Daily Beast he found a certain delicious irony in Beck’s challenge to his site. WIPO is, after all, a part of the United Nations and governed by international law, and railing against a “one-world government” conspiracy among international organizations to undermine the U.S. Constitution is a major part of Beck's show.
“When I received the news of the domain dispute, I was a little surprised that Beck, of all people—after making such a big deal about how international bodies should never be able to trump the U.S. Constitution—would take this to an international organization,” he said. “But as I felt confident I would win, I wasn't too worried about it.”
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wes14451
Where is the story about votes not being counted in NY23 and the illegal swearing in of a candidate not certified the winner by the state. This is an Acorn corrupt site.
wrathofkhan
Those stories aren't on this site because they aren't real. If you want fiction, read the Bible.
This user is no longer registered.
tlcesq
Oh Wes14451? Your candidate conceded the race. There was no illegal swearing in because your candidate was a dolt, only further evidenced by his concession before it was certified. He should never have been in that race to begin with.
democracy7
You are so far off topic I think you need a compass or a map to get back on course. Perhaps you should seek medical care for Attention Deficit Disorder, clearly you can't stay on track.
Desertpenguin
Congradulations to Eiland-Hall.
Beck is a vampire who deserves to be slapped down.
YogiBarrister
That's an outrageous accusation. We don't even know for sure if he raped and murdered a young girl in 1990, let alone whether he drank her blood.
Spinanotherone
I sincerely hope you're kidding....surely you read the article before you commented.... if you are joking, I get it..and love your style.lol.
drstedman
Yogi,
that was perfect.
donatello
It wasn't rape, it was sodomy. Unless of course you count the fact that she was only 17 and she was a he.
s1r1us
The site is down now and moved to GB1990.COM
johnwr3
Imitation is the greatest form of flattery.
Spinanotherone
i find him too arrogant to be truthful. ... Beck ran crying to big brother and we now know he is a coward who can't fight his own battles. You Mr. Hall have shed a light on his agenda we might have never seen . Thank you. Donna
cesspool
I don't like Beck, his on-air persona anyway, but he has the best team of investigative journalists assembled
Downriver
Now that's funny!! :)
Piscesprincess
Methinks thou art a teeny tiny bit confused, my son. You can't be confusing Glenn Beck's staff with Rachel Maddow's now, can you? LOL
JimCap
LOL!!! Beck has a "team of investigative journalists"!?!? Ha ha.
Journalists do journalism. They research. They interview. They put together stories. They document. They have sources. They can prove the accuracy of what they say.
Beck's people invent things. They're gossip mongers. They're obtuse, obsessed ideologues. They're conspiracy theorists who start with what they want to believe and then work backwards to justify it.
Beck isn't anything like a journalist. Nor are the people who work for him. It's nonsense to think otherwise.
NotFooledTX
BWAAAHHHHH!!!!
Cesspool - if you mean he has the best fictional creative writers, I'd agree, but actual "investigative journalists"? Do you even know the meaning of the term, or are you just amazingly short of live brain cells?
speakingout101
If by "investigative journalists" you mean "extremely creative conspiracy theorists who are perhaps the greatest team of story tellers assembled in modern times," then I must agree with you wholeheartedly.
donatello
Don't you know, Beck doesn't pay investigative journalists. He makes this stuff up.
StLBoy
Damn.
I took the headline literally.
Granite
Eiland-Hall is my hero!
Does Beck cry alone at home, or only on TV?
Zelduh
Only on TV.
aBigDeal
Beck was wrong to go after this guy, but two wrongs (perceived or real) don't make a right. If Eiland-Hall murdered someone and got away with it (prove to me that he didn't!), me murdering his sister to make a statement or prove a point wouldn't help anything, would it? Beck says some ridiculous stuff, but usually he lambasts people who say ridiculous stuff, like Van Jones and Anita Dunn.
The article mentions this out-of-context Beck thought crime:
He says he found "particularly egregious" an incident during Beck's CNN career in which he told Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), a Muslim, that he longed to challenge the congressman by saying: "Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies."
On GB199.com, the 1st video clearly gives the context: "let me be politically incorrect ... I FEEL LIKE SAYING IS: Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies. AND I KNOW YOURE NOT, I'M NOT ACCUSING YOU OF BEING AN ENEMY" as Ellison is smiling all along.
But detractors ignore context in their attacks. Eiland-Hall isn't a hero. He would be a hero if he equally attacked blowhards on the Left: Olbermann, Sharpton, Shultz, etc. But he has an agenda: to discredit a media personality based on a few snippets of absurdity, while that personality is only trying to get us to see the hugely consequential, life and death absurdity of our government.
Media only has the power to tear the country apart for people into politics. Most likely they were apart to begin with so you don't need to sensationalize the "problem". Government, on the other hand, has the power to tear entire nations, economies, institutions, classes, races, religions, sexes and AGES all apart.
You're blind if you cannot see that.
Piscesprincess
way Way too many words in your post. tsk.
rjvg50
Eiland-Hall isn't a hero - he is a comedian. That's his agenda.
If you want to go after someone you should go for it. I'm guessing it won't be funny.
Counterglow
All Mr. Beck has to do is publicly deny that the story is true. He has so far refused to do so. What are we supposed to think?
foohog
Yeah well I'm still waiting for Beck to prove he was born here and not in Andorra. I saw a sheep from there crying on tv and saying how much he loved his wool but feared for it and there was this amazing similarity after the sheering.
THINKNIUM
Not a big deal
JimCap
Translation of remarks made above by "aBigDeal":
"Hey you guys, I like Beck. He's my hero. And it hurts my feelings when people make fun of him! I might cry, just like Beck if you keep this up."
Lose the crush on Beck, my son. You're only looking like a groupie.
aBigDeal
Oh, I love all the remarks from the peanut gallery.
People who objectively give their opinion on this story = Glenn Beck worshippers
Yeah... So much wisdom on this site.
thetalkinghand
See, the problem with your opinion is that it's dumb. Fallacious, and irrelevant too. And everyone can see that.
NinjaSauce
@aBigDeal
"On GB199.com, the 1st video clearly gives the context: "let me be politically incorrect ... I FEEL LIKE SAYING IS: Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies. AND I KNOW YOURE NOT, I'M NOT ACCUSING YOU OF BEING AN ENEMY" as Ellison is smiling all along."
LOL!!!!
Eiland-Hall has clearly stated that Beck didn't really do any of the things the site claims. They just want him to call them to confirm that none of those things actually happened.
...See how that works?
What Glen Beck did is called talking on both sides of your mouth. Making an extremely egregious statement, while at the same time, creating plausible deniability.
And clearly, to idiots like you, it works.
donatello
"based on a few snippets of absurdity". Now that's funny!
Emmazon
Beck lovers are almost as scary as Beck.
itsafact
Bravo! Eiland-Hall is a genius!
Youwot
So are you saying that it isn't true that Glen Beck raped and murdered a young girl in 1990? What proof do you have?
I won't believe it until I hear him say it himself.
Personally I think that he wants to be caught - that is why he brought the lawsuit.
Veronicaxy
*chuckle*
politicalpam
Just proves how big a media organization like FOX is that Beck can get away with raping and murdering a young girl and not even have to experience a trial. Notice that Murdoch newspapers are not covering this story.
Chuckl8
What is Glenn Beck hiding? If he did not rape and kill that poor young girl, why doesn't he have her on his show? Or is Fox News preventing her appearance in a crass attempt to gain more audience share for Mr. Beck's show?
What is more important; Fox's ratings, or Mr. Beck's reputation?
America wants to know!
Sajwert
Chuck18, I could not agree with you more, and frankly, I'm beginning to believe that it could be possible that not only did Beck rape and kill that young girl, but he might also be behind several other such incidents.
He hasn't said he wasn't, and as a good American, I believe that we need to know the truth that the liberal media is obviously hiding from us about this.
bigpat
AND, you know he never denied having anything to do with the Sharon Tate murders. What are you hiding, Mr. Beck, if that is your real name? Why won't you admit that you had nothing to do with these heinous acts? Are you a communist Mr. uzBECKistan? The American people have a right to know! Why won't you come clean, sir?!
billybob
We are JUST asking a question!
cbl99201
Bigpat, wow, uzBECKistan, that's a keeper !!
NinjaSauce
The website has setup a dedicated phone line for Glen Beck to call in and simply refute the rumor, and guess what...he HASN'T CALLED YET.
What could this mean? Could it mean that's it's true?
Hey, I'm just asking questions.
cbeenthere
Good one !
kscr14
We love comedy and parody in America (at least Americans with a sense of humor). A sense of humor would be good for Glen Beck.
NotFooledTX
Oh he's got a sense of humor alright - he's laughing at his viewers and their unwavering gullibility every day.
AlexHamilton
The Rush Limbaugh racist "quotes".... Rathergate..... this......
Yes, it's quite a wonder that things like this are considered, even by a champion of free speech such Beck, as potentially beyond the limits.
Obviously it's a joke, but you only know that if you're aware of the background. Perhaps it's time for a BarackObamaRapedAndMurderedAYoungGirlIn1991.com to be launched. I'm sure there'd be consternation about that.
DocLobo
"Obviously it's a joke, but you only know that if you're aware of the background. Perhaps it's time for a BarackObamaRapedAndMurderedAYoungGirlIn1991.com to be launched. I'm sure there'd be consternation about that."
Here's the big difference with that. When liberals see the BeckRaped website, they laugh at the satire, and recognize it as a parody of the BS that Beck spouts. But, if there was an ObamaRaped website, many more people on the right would take it up as truth (see "Birthers").
crypto
Just another David Letterman ploy. These things seem to be working for some people. Expect to see more of them.
gak001
And that's the issue - part of the satire is that Beck was accusing President Obama with these techniques of not being an American citizen. It wouldn't make sense to accuse the President because he has never engaged in such rhetorical misuse.
RockyMissouri
Google Glenn Beck, and you will find out that in his days in Texas that he was taunting and outright cruel to his co-workers' wife who had recently lost a baby- he taunted the woman- on the phone- by saying her husband couldn't even make a baby- saying this, to a woman who had just miscarried a child. Fast forward to present, he is allowed to insult decent Americans again with his divisive words-we MUST hold him accountable!
Snertly
I think you miss the point that they were not parodying Glenn Beck, but were instead making a parody of the logical fallacies his rhetorical style is based upon.
kayjay
We don't need BarackObamaRapedAndMurderedAYoungGirlIn1991.com, since Hotair.com, Freerepublic.com, and a host of other blogs serve the same purpose (without the satire).
spittingoutteeth
This has nothing to do with what side of the partisan divide Beck is on and everything to do with his methods. Using rumor, hearsay and insisting that someone prove their actions and intentions are methods that Beck has often employed, in the face of basic journalistic principles. He's just getting a taste of his own medicine now and, as evidenced by his failed attempts at litigation, apparently that medicine is tasting pretty bitter.
johnnyapplecd
On the top left of the site page: "This website is 100% parody."
So no, you don't have to be aware of any background,
You just have to be able to read.
RockyMissouri
Johnnyapplecd- Thank you for stating the obvious. Beck is just like Medusa-he does NOT want the mirror turned on HIM. Google his days at a Texas radio station and how he was CRUEL to a co-worker whose wife had miscarried- that this creep insults good Americans DAILY is the biggest betrayal of all!
wbishop12
A big shout out to Larry Flynt!! His dedication to freedom made this possible!
nortonclybourn
In Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46 (1988), the United States Supreme Court held, in a unanimous 8-0 decision that the First Amendment's free-speech guarantee prohibits awarding damages to public figures to compensate for emotional distress intentionally inflicted upon them.
cbeenthere
Larry Flynt has a true understanding to the First Amendment, I admire him.
donatello
And my right bicep is bigger.
overdue
That's cool; good for him for fighting the good fight.
In other web news, a Daily Beast proofreader was, for some reason, NOT fired for letting this grammatical error through:
"He added he already planned to give the site name to Beck if he won the case as early as September."
Note to B. Sarlin--
Try using the past perfect once in a while; maybe someday you'll get a job at a real newspaper.
:-/
johnnyapplecd
Maybe someday "overdue" will read a "real newspaper" instead of TDB and disappear the fuck off of these comment boards, instead of posting stupid sanctimonious prescriptivist grammar bullshit that has nothing to do with the topic discussed in the column.
Cashmoney
johnny,
don't be such a grad student/wanker. in the real world, we have norms for what constitutes acceptable writing. the copy editor should have caught and fixed the crappy sentence.
gak001
Someone missed his coffee this morning.
oldpunk
I am shocked so many Americans put this rapist/murderer on a pedestal.
Has anybody seen this mans birth certificate ?
He takes time off pretending it is a medical emergency so he can travel America on killing sprees.
Is Trinity off Dexter based on him?
Veronicaxy
LOL! Ah, this page just gets better and better!
CitizenBloggerX
Beck has to be guilty, Why else would he hide behind the pseudo name Glen Beck ?? His real name is Harald Hill, You don't see Limbaugh, Hannity or O'Reilly hiding behind pseudos, It can only mean that Glen Beck raped and murdered a young girl in 1990
overdue
This story reminds me to renew my ACLU membership. God bless freedom of speech.
http://www.fark.com/cgi/comments.pl?IDLink=4608536&IDComment=54042337#c5 4042337
loloo33
Glenn Beck is a douchbag.
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daveinboise
And so does Stewart and Colbert!!!
Redwall
Where else could they get such wonderful material?
Thank you.
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