Joe Francis Blackmail Video Trial Of The Century To Proceed
The LAT reports that the man accused of extorting pioneering drunken Spring Break exhibitionist documentarian, Girls Gone Wild creator Joe Francis, was ordered to stand trial after a preliminary hearing yesterday. The Times sums up the apparent irony of the trial efficiently:
Francis has made a fortune persuading young women to bare their breasts for the camera. He testified Monday that Riley broke into Francis' Bel-Air mansion Jan. 22, 2004, pulled a gun and forced him to pose for a demeaning videotape. Francis said Riley threatened to distribute the video unless Francis paid him $300,000 to $500,000.
By way of review, the video in question features the accused Darnell Riley forcing Francis onto a bed while saying, “I’m not a fag, but I am going to make the owner of Girls Gone Wild look like a fag. I am going to put this on the Internet and make money,” and the horrifying, threatened use of a pink sexual aid on a sensitive body cavity. And as if the coming Joe Francis Blackmail Video Trial of the Century didn't have enough sensational elements already, Francis and Paris Hilton, whom Riley also allegedly extorted over the release of a stolen sex tape, are locked in a catty he-said/she-said war of words (through her supposedly contradictory police interview, but still) about whether or not they were ever boyfriend and girlfriend. If we were Francis, we'd be slightly less ashamed of that alleged, brief relationship with the dildo.