Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge continues Press after the publication this fall of an article revealing his unvaccinated status. The actor and director criticizes daily for having harmed his career and claims 1.85 million in damages.
“The Applicant was deeply shocked, frustrated and saddened to see intimate and personal information about him being revealed to the public without his consent. [Il] has felt and still feels overwhelmed, embarrassed, humiliated each time his vaccination status is mentioned or commented on in the public sphere ”, we can read in the civil suit filed at the end of December at the Montreal courthouse.
Last September, Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge found himself in the spotlight after the publication of the article “Unvaccinated, Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge gets into trouble” in Press, signed by Hugo Dumas and Patrick Lagacé. It was revealed that he had lost a District 31 episode production contract because he had not yet received his two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Press also reported that the host allegedly asked two restaurants to admit him to their dining room even though he did not have vaccine proof. He also reportedly contacted colleagues in the arts to qualify their adherence to health measures as “brainwashing.”
According to Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge, these revelations are “falsehoods” which “misled the public” and “left readers the general impression” that he was an “antivax”.
The director maintains that no contract had been signed for the production of episodes of District 31 at the time of the publication of the article. Rather, it had been agreed between the production and him that his mandate would be postponed, depending on the vaccine requirements.
He also assures that he never asked for preferential treatment to be served in a restaurant, but rather inquired about the policy in force in the establishments, since Quebec had offered a two-week suspension period from 1er to September 15 to apply the vaccination passport.
He adds that he has never taken a public stand against health measures. The day after the publication of the article by Press in September, he had also taken stock on social networks and had undertaken to be vaccinated, specifying, however, to wait for the approval of the Quebec vaccine Medicago.
Loss of contracts
“The article is the result of a botched, deficient and sensationalist journalistic approach, marked by inequity and constitutes a deliberate invasion of the privacy of the applicant. […] [l’article] had the purpose and effect of discrediting it with the public, by exposing it to popular and media vindictiveness, ”summarize its lawyers in the lawsuit.
They claim that their client would have lost millions of dollars as a result of this post. Because in addition to drawing a line on his partnership with Hyundai, Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge would have seen “several of his other professional commitments [conférences, pièces de théâtre, animation, etc.] be compromised, reduced, or terminated ”.
Following the sending of a formal notice in early December, offering Press to resolve this dispute by “an alternative mode”, the daily maintained that it had committed no fault in publishing its report. Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge therefore turned to the courts to demand the withdrawal of the article and claim $ 1.85 million in damages.
The case will soon be decided by the Superior Court of Quebec.
Press did not wish to make a comment “the file being judiciarized”.
Same story with Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge, who simply wanted to wish “a happy new year, with more sweetness, love and kindness to everyone”.
Contacted by The duty, the Press Council said it had received only one complaint on the article in question, specifying that it did not come from the actor.