The Orlando Sentinel is no longer part of a lawsuit against themselves, SeaWorld, and several other media outlets in which a Texas woman says a private phone conversation was disseminated against her wishes.
As we reported last year, the woman claimed that in 2010, SeaWorld “purchased a video recording of a ‘personal and sensitive’ phone conversation” between herself and her longtime friend, SeaWorld employee John Hargrove. The suit claims that the phone conversation was recorded without her knowledge and sold to SeaWorld for a “large sum of money.” The video in question shows Hargrove “drinking and repeatedly using a racial epithet during a recorded cellphone conversation.” Hargrove then left his job at SeaWorld before appearing in the critical documentary Blackfish. Hargrove also published a book that was critical of SeaWorld and their treatment of animals. SeaWorld then released the video to the Sentinel, who posted it online.
Circuit court judge Courtney Arkeen approved the dismissal of the Sentinel from the suit last week.
News source/photo credit: Orlando Sentinel
