Gilbert Arenas Loses Legal Fight to ‘Basketball Wives’ Participant

A California judge threw out Gilbert Arenas’ motion to stop his ex from appearing on the show ‘Basketball Wives LA’, and made part of his decision based on Gil’ rambling Twitter feed. From the Hollywood Reporter: “A California federal judge has rejected NBA superstar Gilbert Arenas’ attempts to block VH1’s Basketball Wives and turned down a request to stop former fiancé Laura Govan from appearing on the show and mentioning his name. Further, Shed Media, the producers of the show, have successfully got the judge to grant an anti-SLAPP motion that strikes all of Arenas’ claims as an impingement of free speech except for allegations of a publicity rights infringement. There, the judge dismisses the claim, but is allowing Arenas to file an amended complaint. … Further, the judge finds there’s also fair use to Arenas’ name because there’s a matter of public interest involved. Observers might find it odd that a silly VH1 reality TV show could qualify as such importance under the First Amendment, but Judge Gee clarifies: ‘Arenas suggests that any discussion of his family life is not sufficiently related to his celebrity to render BWLA’s use of his identity a matter of public concern. This contention is belied by the tens of thousands of Twitter users who follow Arenas as he tweets about a variety of mundane occurrences.'”