Fuzzy Zoeller suing over Wikipedia entry

I am no wife beater!

Fuzzy Zoeller is suing a company in Florida for “defamation, false light invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress” over statements that someone at Josef Silny and Associates, Inc. posted on Wikipedia. Since he can’t sue Wikipedia, he traced the IP address of the posting to the company and is suing them instead. Here is the offending passage:

Later Zoeller went public with his alcoholism and prescription drug addiction, explaining that at the time he made those statements, he was “in the process of polishing off a fifth of Jack (Daniels) after popping a handful of vicodin pills”. He further detailed the violent nature of his disease, recalling how he’d viciously beat his wife Dianne and their four children while under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. He also admitted feigning a ruptured spinal disc in 1985 so as to be prescribed a multitude of prescription medication.

He sought professional help and mended his fractured familial relationships. In May 2006, Zoeller said in an interview with Golf Digest magazine that he hadn’t beaten his wife in nearly five years.

According to the lawsuit:

The false statements published by Defendant JOSEF SILNY AND ASSOCIATES, INC. tended to subject MR. DOE to hatred, distrust, ridicule, contempt, and disgrace in that they depicted MR. DOE as an alcoholic and prescription drug addict, who is possessed of a violent nature which had caused him to “viciously beat his wife and their four children”, and as someone who had committed the crime of falsifying ailment in order to obtain prescription drugs.

Yeah, we can see why Fuzzy Zoeller MR. DOE would be mad about that. While the offending passage has been taken out of the Fuzzy Zoeller wikipedia entry, it still remains on Answers.com and that’s probably how the Miami Herald was able to deduce the super secret identity of MR. DOE.

We hope Fuzzy doesn’t sue us for repeating the passage, after all, we can barely afford to put collard greens or whatever the hell we serve on the table.

Links:
[Miami Herald]: Golfer Zoeller sues Miami firm for Wikipedia posting
[Miami Herald]: Fuzzy Zoeller lawsuit pdf
[Answers.com]: Fuzzy Zoeller