The World Wrestling Federation is taking the Parents Television Council, a media watchdog, to the mat with a federal lawsuit.
The WWF filed the suit Thursday in U.S. District Court in New York, saying that the Parents Television Council has been engaging in “scare tactics” with the shows’ advertisers in an effort to drop sponsorship of the programs.
The WWF also said that the PTC’s chairman, L. Brent Bozell, along with the Media Research Center, another of Bozell’s organizations, have engaged in “unlawful threats, intimidation, coercion, deception and flat-out lies” with the shows’ sponsors.
The WWF has asked the court for an injunction against what it calls the PTC’s unlawful behavior, as well as undisclosed statutory and punitive damages.
Bozell issued a statement in response to the lawsuit and has speculated that his group might counter-sue the WWF.
Bozell says in the statement: “Based on the press release issued by the WWF, I can say the allegations are completely without merit. I cannot imagine their pleading would contain the kind of scurrilous language in this press release which is so outrageous that it is now being examined by our attorneys in consideration of a counter-claim for libel.”
The PTC, which identifies itself as an organization defending the American family against excessive violence and sexually explicit programming, has been a longtime critic of the WWF.
