The matter of Jack Ass v. Viacom International Inc. concerns an electrical lineman in Montana named Jack Ass, who stumbled upon the MTV show "Jackass" two years ago and was moved to mark his displeasure with litigation. The other day, in the Montana Twentieth Judicial District Court, Ass filed a six-page complaint against Viacom, which owns MTV, for "plagiarizing" and "defaming" his name with a TV show and a movie depicting young men who, among other things, snort lines of wasabi and pee on snow and eat it.
Ass is forty-four. He lives in Hot Springs, a ranching community of about five hundred people, seventy-five miles north of Missoula, in a tiny one-room structure he calls the Jack Shack. Just recently, he got rabbit ears for his TV, and now it receives one channel. It is not MTV. If he wants to watch cable, he calls a buddy and asks if he can come over. Sometimes he says, "Hi, it's Jack," and sometimes he says, "Hi, it's Bozo."
"It's only a small lateral step sideways from Bozo to Jack Ass," he explained the other day. "I can be Bozo or Jack Ass."
He has been Jack Ass for only five years. Before that, he was Bob Craft. But in 1990 his brother died in a car accident, and seven years later he decided to change his name, to help a cartoon character he had created, named Andi Ass, crusade against drunk driving. On two Web sites and through a not-for-profit organization called Hearts Across America—the operations are run out of the Jack Shack—the two Asses promote designated driving and personal responsibility, with slogans like "Be a smart ass, not a dumb ass." The Asses differ from the "Jackass" movie in that they have never promoted jumping head first into the blades of a moving ceiling fan.
The reason for the delay between the show's première, two years ago, and Ass's recent filing is not complicated. "I couldn't find an attorney," Ass said. "Listen, lawyers are not just going to pipe up—they're not going to say they don't have courage. They give me lame excuses. One is too busy. They won't do it on contingency. Some say I may have a case and they want to look deeper. Then they don't call back."
Ass went ahead and filed the suit on his own. It took about a month of work. "Anyone can do it," he said. "You'd be surprised. It's an educational process. You do some research. And there's some rules you have to learn." His language in the complaint is fairly standard. "Comes now, Plaintiff, Jack Ass," it begins and goes on to accuse Viacom of being "liable for injury to a reputation Plaintiff has built and defamation of character Plaintiff has created."
It continues, "I strongly feel that the Defendants Plagiarized, trademark and copyright infringement on my legal name (Jack Ass) and the cartoon character (Andi Ass)." And, "Therefore I (Jack Ass) pray this court will punish the Defendants to the maximum the law allows and that damages are no less than $10,000,000."
Viacom had nothing to say about the suit, but one of the creators of "Jackass," Johnny Knoxville (real name: P. J. Clapp), who is mentioned in the suit, said, "What do I care? I can't wait to get served the papers. What could be more American than just suing the living shit out of someone for no reason at all?"
Some of Ass's legal theories remain under close guard. When he was asked how his research proved Viacom's defamation, Ass paused for nearly a minute, then said politely, "I'm not going to answer that question. If I tell you that, then when I do find an attorney he'll be cranked as heck if I gave away all the answers."
