Jimmy Kimmel Accused of Privacy Invasion

BROOKLYN (CN) - A man claims Jimmy Kimmel invaded his privacy by broadcasting a doctored video that Kimmel claimed was an interview with a rabbi. Daniel Sondik says he was made "a laughingstock" in the segment, in which Kimmel presented him as a Rabbi Pinto, who supposedly had given advice to Kimmel and to NBA star LeBron James.

Sondik says he is a private figure and never consented that his image be used on Aug. 11 Kimmel's show. He also sued ABC.

In the video, "Jimmy Kimmel told the audience that basketball star LeBron James had met with Rabbi Yishayahu Yosef Pinto for business advice, and then told the audience that he himself had met with Rabbi Pinto for business advice," according to the complaint.

"The audience was then presented with a video purporting to depict Jimmy Kimmel conversing with Rabbi Pinto, with Jimmy Kimmel sitting in his car while the individual being presented as Rabbi Pinto stood outside the car and spoke to Jimmy Kimmel in a language other than English.

"In reality, the individual presented in the video as supposedly having conversed with Jimmy Kimmel as he sat in his car was the plaintiff Sondik, not Rabbi Pinto."

Sondik claims that the footage "was actually made by splicing images of Jimmy Kimmel sitting in his car with footage of the plaintiff Sondik taken, upon and belief, [sic] from somebody's posting on YouTube."

Sondik says that 1.5 million people saw the original broadcast, and the segment in which he appears has been viewed 22,000 times on YouTube. He demands damages of misappropriation of his likeness, privacy invasion, false light, and unjust enrichment. He is represented by Marna Berkman.

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