Defamation suit filed against cable-access hosts

PORTLAND – A public access show has been shut down because the hosts are being sued for defamation.

Lesley Jones, executive assistant director of Portland’s community television network, Channel 2, is suing Kyle Rankin and Efram Potelle for $100,000.

She claims the men made comments about her body and sexual conduct on their show, “Live on 2 with Kyle and Efram.”

The comments in the case “were so extreme and outrageous as to exceed all possible bounds of decency and must be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized community,” said Anne Carney, Jones’ lawyer.

The show has been taken off the air. Tom Handel, executive director of the station, said he warned the hosts to stop making comments about female staff members at the station and eventually suspended them for it. But they continued to make the remarks, he said.

From the beginning, viewers of “Live on 2 with Kyle and Efram” complained about the crude language and sexual innuendo, Handel said. But the material was not deemed obscene, so the show remained on the air.

The lawsuit contends that Rankin and Potelle called Jones “ugly” and “fat,” and repeatedly made derogatory sexual comments about her.

Rankin and Potelle said they have not seen the lawsuit but said they have a right to free speech.

“We did all that stuff because we wanted people to stop on Channel 2 and hopefully be entertained,” Rankin said. “Public-access cable is supposed to be a forum for free speech.”

Public-access cable channels began nearly 20 years ago when federal law began requiring cable companies to provide communities with channels for local programming.

The vast majority of these shows are noteworthy for their utter lack of controversy. They include municipal meetings, videotaped lectures, public affairs shows and a bulletin board of upcoming events at churches, clubs and schools.

“We’re very boring and we’re proud of that fact,” said Bunnie Reidel, executive director of the Alliance for Community Media.