Wednesday, February 28, 2007

BLOGGER VS. BEER BARON GOES NATIONAL

From Patricia Best's "Nobody's Business" feature on page B2 of the print edition of today's Globe & Mail (here's a link, although it's behind a subscriber firewall).

"HEY, DON'T CHEETAH ME WITH YOUR BLOGGING

"Frank D'Angelo, the fledgling beer baron, head honcho of Steelback Brewery and the creative mind behind the Ben Johnson's Cheetah Power Surge advertising campaign (Frank: "Ben, when you run, do you Cheetah?" Ben: "I Cheetah all the time!") has taken exception to the blogging exploits of Neate Sager.

(snip)


"The entrepreneur's business associate Mike Cecere, who directs the Steelback and Cheetah commercials and has been known to safeguard Mr. D'Angelo's jewellery for him when he plays hockey, sent a letter to Mr. Sager last week. Penned by 'representatives' of the beer and apple juice magnate, the missive informs Mr. Sager that his entries concerning Mr. D'Angelo are "very libellous and slanderous ... We believe your writings are malicious attacks intended to damage Mr. Frank D'Angelo's reputation and defame his character and good name.' It goes on to say that Mr. Cecere demands that Mr. Sager delete all 'defamatory comments toward Mr. D'Angelo,' and send a letter of apology by March 2.

"The letter also asks that Mr. Sager 'immediately seize and desist' his unwarranted statements against Mr. D'Angelo.

"So far, the blogger isn't backing down. He says he sent an e-mail to Mr. Cecere, asking him to specify what is objectionable and inquiring whether he is, in fact, Mr. D'Angelo's lawyer. 'This isn't easy to laugh off, but as a journalist who knows seize from cease, I'm confident it can be worked out amicably,' Mr. Sager writes on his website."

Shorter version: It's a small vindication, especially when it comes to little things suc as, oh, freedom of speech and fair comment. Along with that, for a hick from RR1 Napanee, being written up by The Globe tastes really good. If only there was some germane basis for comparison here.

Thanks again to our readers, friends, fellow bloggers and journalists (not to mention the Canadian Association of Journalists) who showed support last week. This list includes but is in no way limited to friends: Keith Borkowsky, Jeff Dertinger, Greg Hughes, Dan Rowe, Darryl G. Smart; and writers from the print and web worlds: Mark Bourrie (Ottawa Watch), Tyler Dellow (mc79hockey), Marc Foster (Junior Hockey Blog) Will Leitch (Deadspin), Erin Nicks (The Universal Cynic), Adam Radwanski and the magnificent bastards of Boatmen Blog, Peter Toms (A Baseball Geek), Ryan McNeill (Hoops Addict), Scott Carefoot (Raptorblog), the Warren Kinsella and several Sun Media colleagues who will be thanked personally. You guys are the champs.

As well, thanks to reader Alex Stack for the heads-up.

Related:
Hey, Don't Cheetah Me With Your Blogging! (Patricia Best, Globe & Mail, subscriber content; non-subscriber link)

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca. (Here's the main page.)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

WAY TO GO!, I hope my blogs can be in national news some day

Anonymous said...

Tell Mr. Cheetah to stuff it where the sun don't shine. It's quite obvious that his "lawyer" must've gotten his degree from the back of a Betty & Veronica comic book. Keep blogging dude!

Anonymous said...

The junk beer huckster takes on the blogosphere...not really a match....you have to at least be literate to compete. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Does D'Angelo not realize he comes off as a douche in his commercials. I mean c'mon Frank.

The fact that he's forwarded a seize and desist just proves he's a douche.

Speaking of the Cheetah Power commercials. Is it kosher for a white man to dress up in slanted eyes and yellow face, just asking.

Anonymous said...

Mama's Boy, Frankie is getting what he deserves in spades "It is what it is."

Whata cry baby! A lawsuit it has been pointed out that he just blows smoke only to keep his name in the media?

His chronical of colossall business failures to date are proff positive that he's nothing more than a shyster.