Off the top of my head?
A guest shot on Letterman or Leno, a week on Hollywood squares, a walk on part in SW Episode III: It Just Keeps Getting Worse…there are many ways to parlay something like this into good fame and fortune, particularly in our media obsessed society.
As to being humiliated, I was caught at about that kid’s age whacking off by a classmate and had to endure the nickname of “Spanky” for the next couple of years. You survive it, assuming you have a good support system behind you ( which is why I posted that I hoped he had parents who could make him see the positives ), often it can give you a very strong sense of self ( which is why I mentioned that nobody would ever be able to belittle him again- assuming he could use his 15 minutes of fame to his advantage ).
Well … one would hope Fat Boy Slim got PAID. And that the persons in the video MADE the video with the foreknowledge that it would be shown wherever the producers thought there was money to be made.
Should he NOT have left the video there? Sure. Mistake. I have no doubt he learned from it. Hell, I’ll be surprised if he ever opens his mouth or does ANYTHING in public again, after THIS screwup. But leaving a videotape lying around does not invite all and sundry to stick it on the internet, any more than Stephen King leaving copies of “Dreamcatcher” all over town is an invitation for me to post it on the internet.
As to “suing everyone who ever laughed at him”… well… in a libel suit (or slander), one does not sue anyone who might have read the libelous article, or who might have heard the slander. One sues the perpetrators.
Sure, the damage is done, cat’s out of the bag, nothing to be done about it now. That doesn’t mean the perpetrators ought to get off scot free, though.
But the damage is already done. So what are they supposed to do, ignore it? Who knows what his hospital fees were, and who knows what the lawyers’ cut will be, should the suit succeed? Yes, $100k seems steep, but if he gets it, will likely amount to far less than that in net total. AND that assumes that those that are forced to pay actually will pay. Even under legal orders, people often don’t pay the judgments against them.
Anyway, I feel for the kid and have no problems with the lawsuit. Yes, I laughed at the video, but I was laughing WITH him, and didn’t know the backstory. I thought he was just having fun (which he was, at the time). Clearly, there’s a shitload of people out there who laughed AT him.
There’s simply no perspective that we can expect the kid to have over this. I had no perspective at 15, even after years and years of my mom calmly and logically asking me why I let other people “get my goat.” If someone set out to tease and humiliate me, they pretty much succeeded. Yeah, I’ve got perspective now, but I’ve got almost 13 years on the kid. Getting caught masturbating by a classmate, having your strapless dress fall down at prom, whatever… those pale in comparison to someone broadcasting your embarrassing situation TO THE WORLD. It’s a matter of scale. A class I could face down. A school… I don’t know if I could face down or not. The world? That’s asking too much.
Poor kid. He’s a kindred spirit and I hope he comes out of this ahead-- emotionally and financially.