La Presse: “War of Words”

The Globe and Mail, one of Montreal’s prestigious newspapers (and one we quote quite often here at Fascination!) has printed a story this morning about the war of words brewing between Cirque du Soleil, our favorite avant-garde circus, and Maclean’s, a magazine billing itself as Canada’s only national weekly current affairs rag. The reason for the fight: an article entitled “Sex, Drugs and Acrobats” that Macleans published highlighting the recent “tell-all” book by Montreal author Ian Halperin and the comments the magazine made about Cirque du Soleil therein.

The lawyer for Cirque du Soleil is reviewing an “editor’s note” in the latest Maclean’s to see if it satisfies a complaint he made last week about the magazine’s recent “Sex, Drugs & Acrobats” cover story on the famed Quebec troupe.

Meanwhile, the Cirque lawyer, François Fontaine, has received a demand letter from counsel for Montreal author Ian Halperin whose new book, Guy Lalibert é: The Fabulous Story of the Creator of Cirque du Soleil, was excerpted in Maclean’s and serves as the basis of its controversial June 15 cover story. The letter calls on Laliberté to retract comments the Cirque founder made about Halperin to Canadian Press and Yahoo News on June 16.

The letter, written by lawyer Michèle Frenière, asks that the retraction be made by June 25 and threatens to seek punitive damages of $500,000 – $250,000 from Laliberté, the same from Cirque itself – plus $25,000 from Cirque spokesperson Renée-Claude Ménard who also is alleged to have slandered Halperin.

Read the Globe and Mail story here:
“War of Words: Maclean’s vs. Cirque du Soleil”

Read the original MacLean’s story here:
“Sex, Drugs & Acrobats”

And read an earlier Maclean’s blurb here:
“Dishin’ the Dirt on Cirque”

{ SOURCE: Globe and Mail }