Josh Homme Sued Over Autograph Hunter Tussle
After the Detroit stop on Iggy Pop’s 2016 Post Pop Depression Tour, Iggy and Josh Homme–Iggy’s guitarist for the tour–were approached by a fan named Jason Leckrone at the pair made their way into a post-gig reception at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Some pictures were taken, but Josh, as is his custom, declined to sign any autographs because so many of them end up for sale on eBay. Lots of musicians and celebrities take this stand. Why should a professional autograph seeker profit from some selling someone’s signature when the signatory doesn’t get a piece of the action? Makes sense to me.
But this where things get murky, but it does end up with Leckrone filing a lawsuit against Josh and TMZ. This is from Courthouse New:
Leckrone, a school teacher who collects autographs as a hobby, says he wanted Iggy Pop’s autograph after the show but was unable to get it because of security personnel.
Homme passed by shortly thereafter and, according to the complaint, “confronted autograph seekers and said something to the effect of – I am not signing autographs for you blood sucking ebayers [sic], I am tired of you making money off me but I will take photos with you.”
“Plaintiff pointed out that defendant Homme benefitted from these types of people who attended the concert,” the complaint states. “Defendant Homme began taking photos with people while swearing at plaintiff between photos.”
Leckrone further alleges, “When defendant Homme finished the last photo, he approached plaintiff [and] was right in his face screaming profanities.”
The lawsuit says Homme went into an after-party for a few minutes, but then returned “and confronted plaintiff again and threatened him … [saying] that he wanted to punch him in the face.”
Homme pointed his finger “inches from plaintiff’s face … [and] then intentionally and physically grabbed plaintiff around the shoulder area,” Leckrone alleges.
A witness videotaped the incident and sent the footage to TMZ, who posted the video on its website, along with an article “that indicated that plaintiff was involved in a ‘nasty name-calling exchange’ with defendant Homme,” the complaint states.
Leckrone says the statement is untrue and cast him in a false light, and that TMZ exploited him for commercial use. He seeks at least $25,000 for claims of assault, defamation, false light, appropriation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The whole story can be found here.
