Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Should Chelsea's picture come down?

Chelsea Clinton had her picture taken with the owner of a restaurant and he put it in his window. He has photos of other famous people including Regis Philbin and even politician Rudy Giuliani. Apparently though, the Clintons aren't happy with the photo.

Bill Clinton's lawyer sent a letter to the restaurant owner, demanding the photo be taken down. The letter included threats of "any and all options" if the picture stayed.

The legality comes down to weather or not Chelsea is a private citizen (she is) and whether the owner has the right to publish the picture (he doesn't).

But wouldn't it have been a little nicer if Bill has sent a letter asking him to take it down? Maybe Hillary could have gone and had her picture taken to replace the Chelsea photo.

You can view the story here. Note that the restaurant seems like a nice place, the man claims that he looks at Chelsea as his daughter and he's a well dressed, nice looking man. In short, it's a good picture.

I agree the picture should come down, the request should have been more civil. I'm not sure this is as much an attack against our former president, as it is an attack on society in general. When we have to threaten through lawyers instead of just making a request, I think we've gone too far.

3 comments:

Adam said...

I think the restaurant owner could make a pretty good argument that Chelsea is a public figure.

David said...

If Chelsea wants the picture to come down then it should be taken down. Just because her parents decided to be public figures doesn't mean she has to be one. On the other hand though, I have to wonder why she let the picture be taken in the first place?

Randy said...

I've been thinking about this. Originally, I thought Pres. Clinton should have written (or called) a nice message.

Now that I think more about it, Chelsea should have asked. She's 27 (almost 28), she's a legal adult.