Comedian Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge drops his $1.85 million lawsuit against The Press in December 2021. He criticized the daily for having harmed his career by publishing an article which revealed his status as not vaccinated against COVID-19.
According to the information in the file available at the courthouse, Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge officially withdrew on March 8. Contacted by The duty to know the reasons for this withdrawal, neither the actor nor The Press did not wish to comment on the subject.
At the heart of the dispute: the article “Unvaccinated, Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge gets into trouble” published in September 2021 by The Press, signed by columnists Hugo Dumas and Patrick Lagacé. It was revealed that the actor had lost a contract to produce episodes of District 31 because he had not yet received his two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The article also pointed out that the host would have asked two restaurants to admit him to their dining room even if he did not have proof of vaccination, required at the time. He would also have contacted colleagues in the artistic community to describe their adherence to health measures as “brainwashing”.
These revelations are “false facts” that “mislead the public” and “leave readers with the general impression” that the comedian was an “antivax”, his lawyers pointed out in the lawsuit, calling the article ” sloppy, deficient and sensationalistic journalistic approach, imbued with inequity”.
Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge also said he was “shocked, frustrated and saddened to see intimate and personal information concerning him being revealed to the public without his consent”, adding that he subsequently felt “overwhelmed, embarrassed and humiliated each time their vaccination status [était] mention “.
The loss of several professional contracts – including his partnership with Hyundai – and therefore “millions of dollars” following the publication of the article had motivated him to continue the daily.
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