Bumfights... A great idea, too bad...

[Melotic]

I didn't think of it...

Three 'Bumfights' Producers Plead Guilty in Calif.
Fri May 9, 8:12 PM ET Add Entertainment - Reuters to My Yahoo!



LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Three young men who produced the brief Internet sensation "Bumfights" pleaded guilty on Friday to paying homeless men to trade blows, charges that could send them to jail for a year.



Ryan McPherson, 19, Daniel Tanner, 21, and 24-year-old Zachary Bubeck -- who were accused of persuading homeless people to fight in front of a camera in exchange for cash, food, liquor, and hotel rooms -- each pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to promote illegal fighting.


A fourth defendant, 21-year-old Michael Slyman, pleaded guilty to the same charge in March and is scheduled to be sentenced next week.


After a preliminary hearing in January, a San Diego Superior Court judge dismissed more serious charges against the four defendants, who have also been sued for $100,000 by two of the homeless men who starred in the "Bumfights" videos.


A San Diego attorney representing Bubeck has vowed to have the lawsuit dismissed, saying that "bad taste is not actionable" and that the homeless men participated willingly.


More than 300,000 of the tapes were reportedly sold on the Internet for $19.99 each, and a Web site www.bumfights.com was still promoting the series on Friday.




These guys could have gotten away with it... What a hustle...

[Andre98]

I am not a prude, Mel, and I am not hunting to trash your thread, but this Bumfight idea is just irresponsible idiocy.

"Bad taste is not actionable"...fucking lawyers...the homeless men need to visit him in his office if he approves of bumfights.

This isn't even like the Toughman contests... these derelicts have no conditioning whatsoever. Do the producers promise to foot medical bills if someone gets a concussion or loses their sight in one eye? I guess if one of them kneels over, everybody splits and leaves him for dead? After a pummeling, if a man has internal injuries, I don't know, like a perforated kidney or fractured ribs, that's just tough shit? Some injuries may not show up immediately. Head injury, aww just sleep it off...if you wake up the next morning, it wasn't serious. Long as they are desperate enough to sign their X on the dotted line, another cheesy palooka can make some change off human misery. We are not far from throwing men in a ring with swords like in anciet Rome. Throw in a few lions while we're at it.

[Melotic]

I never said it was in good taste, but if Jerry Springer can get away with that bullshit he calls a talk show... Why not these guys... I would never do anything on that level, but I do think there's a market for it...

[Andre98]

There is a market for videos of real rapes...
There's a market for videos of sex with children...
For live hangings....
Just because there's a market for it should not dictate its existence. And because crap exists, (Springer) does not mean we might as well create more. All I'm saying is these guys are trying to defend on the basis that its bad taste only. I think its more.. it is exploiting desperate people, and leaving them worse off.

I am not perfect either. I watch porn, and i know there is a fair amount of runaways, younger than legal girls that may be hiding their true age, women with histories of sexual abuse, or those that are in the midst of drug addiction taking part in it because they are desperate for money (damn, i'm killing my taste for it as i type....) Its wierd that these tapes are sold legally, yet the shoots have to take place secretly in many cases, or risk getting busted. It's a strange world.

[Melotic]

I don't watch porn, nor would I watch this... I just don't understand why these guys were punished, when porn and boxing are legal industries... The Ultimate Fighting, Wrestling and Boxing are rewarded for fighting, these guys didn't do anything any different than those guys... Plus, these homeless men weren't force to do it...