Former Chicago-based porn producer files libel lawsuits against bloggers
Chicago, IL -
Lesbian activist and journliast Jasmyne Cannick reports on her blog that Flavaworks Productions owner Phillip Bleich has filed a $250,000 lawsuit against her and other bloggers after they reported his trouble with Chicago's Department of Health.
Cannick writes that she was notified by mail that the Flavaworks owner was suing her for libel. "I know what libel is and I know what libel isn't and nothing that was written was libel. We simply stated facts, which I am happy to do again."
Cannick and a colleague, Bernie Tarver, who is also being sued, blogged that Bleich closed his Chicago-based company, which operates Cocoboyz, Thugboy and PapiCock, and the magazines Flavamen and FlavaLife, and relocated to Miami, Florida following a Chicago Department of Public Health investigation into unsafe sex practices by Flavaworks.
"Because several blogers felt compelled enough to blog about what was happening in Chicago and Miami, they have become the target of a lawsuit," writes Cannick.
On his blog, Tarver detailed how the Chicago Free Press reported that Chicago Department of Health officials slapped a cease and desist order on the owners of Flavaworks.
According to the Chicago Free Press investigation published in 2006, Christopher Brown, assistant commissioner for HIV/AIDS/STD programs at CDPH, said health officials acted after uncovering 'credible' evidence that models at FlavaWorks.com, which also operated CocoBoyz Dorm Room online, were HIV-positive, were engaging in unsafe sex practices and were spreading HIV, syphilis and gonorrhea through contact with individuals outside the business.
Since relocating to South Florida, Flavaworks was the target of an investigation in May by Miami's NBC6 and the home housing the FlavaWorks/CocoDorm/CocoBoyz business received five code violations.
Cannick and other prominent African-American leaders have also been critical of Bleicher, who is white, for what they call the exploitation of young black and Latino men.
Cannick writes that she was notified by mail that the Flavaworks owner was suing her for libel. "I know what libel is and I know what libel isn't and nothing that was written was libel. We simply stated facts, which I am happy to do again."
Cannick and a colleague, Bernie Tarver, who is also being sued, blogged that Bleich closed his Chicago-based company, which operates Cocoboyz, Thugboy and PapiCock, and the magazines Flavamen and FlavaLife, and relocated to Miami, Florida following a Chicago Department of Public Health investigation into unsafe sex practices by Flavaworks.
"Because several blogers felt compelled enough to blog about what was happening in Chicago and Miami, they have become the target of a lawsuit," writes Cannick.
On his blog, Tarver detailed how the Chicago Free Press reported that Chicago Department of Health officials slapped a cease and desist order on the owners of Flavaworks.
According to the Chicago Free Press investigation published in 2006, Christopher Brown, assistant commissioner for HIV/AIDS/STD programs at CDPH, said health officials acted after uncovering 'credible' evidence that models at FlavaWorks.com, which also operated CocoBoyz Dorm Room online, were HIV-positive, were engaging in unsafe sex practices and were spreading HIV, syphilis and gonorrhea through contact with individuals outside the business.
Since relocating to South Florida, Flavaworks was the target of an investigation in May by Miami's NBC6 and the home housing the FlavaWorks/CocoDorm/CocoBoyz business received five code violations.
Cannick and other prominent African-American leaders have also been critical of Bleicher, who is white, for what they call the exploitation of young black and Latino men.
