Lawyers for the female celebrities whose nude or private images were hacked are threatening to sue Google for $100 million for allegedly failing to remove the images and “making millions from the victimization of women.”
Images of stars including Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, Amber Heard, Rihanna, Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez and Cara Delevingne have been distributed online in what is said to be the biggest celebrity hacking scandal in history.
Now top Hollywood lawyer Marty Singer, who represents over a dozen of the women affected by the leak, has written a sternly-worded letter to Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, as well as Eric Schmidt and Google lawyers accusing them of “blatantly unethical behavior” – and comparing their alleged lack of action to the NFL leadership’s handling of the Ray Rice affair.
The letter, exclusively seen by Page Six claims Google has failed, “to act expeditiously, and responsibly to remove the images, but in knowingly accommodating, facilitating, and perpetuating the unlawful conduct. Google is making millions and profiting from the victimization of women.”
Singer writes that Lavely & Singer sent a notice to remove images four weeks ago, and a dozen more since, but many of the images are still on Google sites BlogSpot and YouTube.
Singer adds, “Google knows the images are hacked stolen property, private and confidential photos and videos unlawfully obtained and posted by pervert predators who are violating the victims’ privacy rights … Yet Google has taken little or no action to stop these outrageous violations”
The letter continues, “Because the victims are celebrities with valuable publicity rights you do nothing — nothing but collect millions of dollars in advertising revenue … as you seek to capitalize on this scandal rather than quash it. Like the NFL, which turned a blind eye while its players assaulted and victimized women and children, Google has turned a blind eye while its sites repeatedly exploit and victimize these women.”
