'Out' Hit With Beyond-Frivolous Lawsuit

Why do I foresee this $100-million lawsuit against Out magazine getting tossed out of court so fast it produces an actual sonic boom?

Maybe it's because former Ramones manager Danny Fields's claim that the gay lifestyle magazine "called me virtually a sexual predator" seems to be entirely a product of his own paranoia.

Here's how Out quoted him:

"The '70s was sure a lot of fun, but I was sure a lot of young. Boy, if you didn't get laid, then it was your own fault. I don't remember ever being inhibited by saying 'I'm the manager of the band. If you want to meet them, come to my hotel room and sleep with me, and I'll introduce you to them in the morning.'"

Sleazy, sure, but do you see anything in there about "underage teens"? Presumably the artists Fields worked for (which also included MC5 and Iggy Pop) had plenty of adult fans, too, right?

What's more, the contested Out passage bears a striking similarity to a comment Fields gave journalist Legs McNeil for his book Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk:

"When I wasn't getting laid elsewhere I went to Max's Kansas City every night... You could have sex with all the busboys. I mean, not right there, but later. And anybody who walked into the room, you could fuck, because they all wanted to be in the back room. And you would say, 'You'll have to fuck me and I'll let you sit at a good table.'"

Because Out is part of a public company, and because the magazine didn't get Fields on tape, it may end up offering him some small settlement rather than face the hassle of a trial. That would be too bad. Just think of the precedent it would set if every rock-band manager accused of having sex with groupies -- in the 1970s! -- could claim defamation. Rolling Stone would be out of business in a heartbeat.

UPDATE: Turns out Queerty also remembered the Please Kill Me quote. Have fun in court, Danny!