Contract Killer

Contract Killer
February 20, 2012

Maureen Martin

Maureen Martin is The Heartland Institute's senior fellow for legal affairs and managing editor of... (read full bio)

The mother of a five-year-old toddler pageant star has filed a $30 million libel suit against three media outlets, claiming they “brazenly attempt[ed] to sexualize” the child, “claiming she was gyrating in a nightclub and singing about her sex appeal.”

The child is a star on the Discovery Channel’s “Toddlers and Tiaras” program.

The suit contends the media outlets falsely characterized the child as sexual, erotic, and provocative for singing “I’m Sexy and I Know It” on a videotape. She was harmed, the suit alleges, directly through the loss of funding for a contract for her “Glitzy Jewelry.”

Source: Kevin Deutsch, “‘Toddlers & Tiaras’ mom sues media outlets,” New York Daily News, January 25, 2012

Maureen Martin

Maureen Martin is The Heartland Institute's senior fellow for legal affairs and managing editor of... (read full bio)