by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: February 21, 2008 - 5:00 pm ET
(Knoxville, Tennessee) A Tennessee man who once was a Big Brother contestant is seeking $4-million in damages after his young daughter opened a mailing containing gay pornography.
Kent Blackwelder, who appeared in Big Brother 2" in 2001 and now runs a sandwich shop, has filed a federal lawsuit against Delaware-based Specialty Publications which promotes adult gay material.
The lawsuit claims that the mailing was "unsolicited" and that his 12-year old daughter opened the envelope that said on the outside "free DVD" thinking it was from the Disney Corp.
Instead, the envelope contained the DVD "Titan Men's Farm Fresh," and promotional material for a gay adult magazine.
The lawsuit identifies the daughter only as "Mary Doe".
"Mary Doe, being a curious child and thinking the free DVD offer was for a Disney movie, opened the envelope at which time she was horribly shocked to see numerous sexually explicit photographs of completely nude males," the lawsuit claims.
"She ran to her father to show him what she had found, and he likewise was shocked, disgusted and enraged."
The lawsuit accuses Specialty Publications of inflicting extreme emotional distress on both the 12-year old and Blackwelder.
The suit alleges the company flagrantly violated federal law governing the mailing of sexually oriented advertisements.
"As a result of the negligence of Specialty Publications, the [Blackwelders] have sustained great pain of body and mind and emotional stress, including shock, horror, humiliation and embarrassment as well as anxiety," according to the lawsuit.
Court papers show that Blackwelder is seeking $350,000 in compensatory damages plus $3.5 million in punitive damages.
The company has declined to comment on the suit.
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