# Star Wars Kid Sues! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 22, 2003, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-kid-sues/196879 "2003-08-22T05:54:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-kid-sues/196879/1 "2003-08-22T05:54:28Z")
I just learned about the “Star Wars Kid” today. > [@](#): > > It was a moment of unadulterated goofiness, the kind of thing anyone might do with no one watching: A teen from Quebec videotaped himself as he pretended to wield a light saber “Star Wars” style. > > But that private moment went public, very public, when classmates at his high school found the tape in a cabinet and uploaded it onto an Internet file-sharing site this past spring. > > Now Ghyslain Raza is known far and wide as the [“Star Wars Kid,”](http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/breaking_news/6585994.htm) with a fan base that only seems to be growing - even though he doesn’t want the attention. > … > “I want my life back,” he said in an e-mail interview with the National Post newspaper, a Canadian daily. > > Claiming that their son has been humiliated, his parents are suing the parents of the teens who put the video on the Web. Curious, I googled for “star wars kid” and got numerous hits. But each one I tried said the page could not be found. I wonder if web hosters are taking the lawsuit seriously and shutting down any pages that show a clip. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-kid-sues/196879/2 "2003-08-22T06:04:50Z")
Couldn’t he just tell people it was someone else named Ghyslain Raza? ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-kid-sues/196879/3 "2003-08-22T06:15:01Z")
Didn’t know about it until this thread. A search revealed this: [http://www.jedimaster.net/](http://www.jedimaster.net/) ---
**Author:** ![MrSarcasticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@MrSarcasticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSarcasticus)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-kid-sues/196879/4 "2003-08-22T08:07:33Z")
There are various rumors swirling. That STAR WARS kid is in a mental hospital and can’t even function anymore. There’s also a nice little rumor that a petition is going to cast him as a Jedi extra in Episode III. Sweet. If anyone deserved a bit of Fuck You play, it’s this dude. Cast him! ---
**Author:** ![kitarak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kitarak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitarak)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-kid-sues/196879/5 "2003-08-22T09:56:01Z")
I’m going to say ‘go for it’. Normally I don’t like indiscriminate suing, but the extent to which this video has been spread around and laughed at is downright cruel (I actually haven’t seen it myself, only the reactions of others to it). I hope, if it exceeds, the penalties aren’t _too_ harsh, as I wouldn’t like the parents to suffer excessively for their kids being thoughtless morons. Maybe an out of court agreement that the kids in question are to be grounded for the rest of their natural lives? (Yeah, the whole thing strikes a bit of a personal note for me - I get furious when kids are humiliated by others around their age. This is just that on a vastly larger scale). ---
**Author:** ![Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krisfer_the_Cat)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-kid-sues/196879/6 "2003-08-22T10:42:47Z")
Subject got pretty much thrashed out last month Andy [Look here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=200288) I doubt there is much else to say… except you’re still delicious! ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-kid-sues/196879/7 "2003-08-22T11:15:17Z")
I admit I didn’t see what was so funny about the video. Was it some disgusting and perverted sense of voyeurism? Honestly, I can hardly say I haven’t done something silly and eccentric alone that I wouldn’t even consider if I imagined myself in public. My rare shower singing comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![herwono](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/9f8e36/32.png) [@herwono](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/herwono)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-kid-sues/196879/8 "2003-08-22T11:17:21Z")
[‘Star Wars Kid’ Gets Bucks From Blogs](http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,58881,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-kid-sues/196879/9 "2003-08-22T12:10:44Z")
His parents are suing their parents? There’s justice for you. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-kid-sues/196879/10 "2003-08-22T13:55:46Z")
It’s a shame the kid didn’t just roll with the punches because he could have turned it into something. That damned petition has over 60k names on it. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-kid-sues/196879/11 "2003-08-22T15:11:32Z")
Hey, **Ghyslain** (if you’re reading this): I am your father. Search your feelings, you know it to be true. You might think the Internet is the only world out there, but no. There is another. Ask your twin sister. Now, go take some diet pills and get a real job or something. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-kid-sues/196879/12 "2003-08-22T17:09:08Z")
OK, I feel for this kid. But does anyone else think that he (and his parents) are going about this in entirely the wrong way? He doesn’t like having so much publicity… So he sues? Way to guarantee that he’ll stay in the spotlight that much longer. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-kid-sues/196879/13 "2003-08-22T17:24:35Z")
The attention wasn’t all bad. One of the first sites to feature him had a donation thing set up to buy him an iPod. They collected _way_ past the goal. ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-kid-sues/196879/14 "2003-08-22T17:46:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Little Nemo \* > \*\*Couldn’t he just tell people it was someone else named Ghyslain Raza? \*\* I bet his Jedi name is Bill Johnson! ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-kid-sues/196879/15 "2003-08-23T05:13:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Krisfer the Cat \* > \*\*Subject got pretty much thrashed out last month Andy > [Look here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=200288) > > I doubt there is much else to say… except you’re still delicious! \*\* Why thank ye, Krisfer. ::😊:: Just to add my .02 to the discussion, I really feel for the kid. If I had stumbled on the video while web surfing, I probably would have chuckled, and then been thankful that my own moments of childhood goofing around would never be documented on film. But I think this sort of lawsuit benefits no one but lawyers. It was cruel to upload it, true, but in doing so they did nothing inherently false. The parody versions would be protected for being what they are – parodies. And if he claims invasion of privacy, it would be harder to prove that if (as I understand it) he made the tape with school equipment, which is not private. I hope the Star Wars kid recovers from the initial shock and realizes that a lot of people are laughing with him, not at him. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-kid-sues/196879/16 "2003-08-24T20:59:15Z")
I have no sympathy for this idiot. Number one, he was stupid enough to do his little Darth Maul routine _ **in front of a running video camera at his High School!** _ Bad idea? Duh! And number two, he could’ve turned his 15 minutes of internet fame into a quick hundred grand if he’d gotten a publicist or agent and capitalized on it. It’s happened before. Instead he sues because his _ **pwecious wittle fewwings** _ are hurt. This only makes it ten times worse. Not only is he a Star Wars nerd, but he’s a big cry-baby sissy as well.