| CBS
News Story on the SWK
Star
Wars Kid
Baltimore Sun, MD -
The Star Wars Kid was just goofing off at
school. Now he finds his private performance
downloaded by over 12 million Internet users across the world. ...
Video
put to the sword
Melbourne Herald Sun, Australia - Aug
8, 2003
Remember Ghyslain Raza, the red-faced, 15-year-old boy who
became known throughout
the world as the "Star Wars Kid" for his
carefree, sabre-swirling antics? ...
Gobble,
gobble indeed
Toronto Star, Canada - Jul
31, 2003
... comedy, an action movie that can't seem to leave
Gigli's apartment, a showcase for
two star performances so uncomfortably stretched they make The Star Wars
Kid ...
Rants &
Raves
Wired News - Jul 31, 2003
... Society is so fucked up, I don't even want to
comment, man ("Star Wars Kid Files
Lawsuit," July 24, 2003). Have a Rant or Rave for Wired News? Send it. ...
Star
Wars Kid strikes back over web humiliation
Out-Law.com, UK - Jul
28, 2003
The short video featuring chubby teenager Ghyslain Raza from
Quebec is widely available
on the internet, and “The Star Wars Kid” as he became
known has ...
Rants &
Raves
Wired News - Jul 28, 2003
They could make far more from endorsements, T-shirts, plastic
models,
and so on ("Star Wars Kid Files Lawsuit," July
24, 2003). ...
A
Star Wars casualty
The Globe and Mail, Canada - Jul
28, 2003
... rooms and late-night talk shows. Just ask a Quebec
boy by the name
of Ghyslain, aka the "Star Wars kid.". While
working on a high ...
Use the force, Star
Wars Kid
Ars Technica - Jul 27, 2003
If you hang out in the forums, you surely know about the "Star
Wars Kid" video that
features a rather awkward child pretending to be wilding a dual lightsaber ...
Revenge of
the Jedi?
Winnipeg Sun, Canada - Jul
27, 2003
... Ghyslain Raza, 15, who has become known as the Star
Wars Kid on a number of Internet
sites, made a video of himself doing martial arts moves with a golf-ball ...
Kid,
we feel your pain
Toronto Star, Canada - Jul
26, 2003
... This is about the Star Wars Kid.
If you spend any time in front of a computer,
you are no doubt familiar with the tragicomic exploits of Ghyslain Raza. ...
Parents
file lawsuit over Star Wars Kid video
The Globe and Mail, Canada - Jul
23, 2003
... 15-year-old pretending he is wielding a double-bladed
light sabre, has been downloaded
millions of times from several Web sites, which dubbed him Star Wars
Kid ...
Fabulous
nobodies
The Age, Australia - Jul
21, 2003
... You have got to love him and his ungainly ways."
Females swooned - Cyberbabe 46
offered to "make this boy a man ..." In one version, dubbed Star
Wars Kid ...
A
Picture of Health
Smart Money - Jul 18, 2003
... value of all of its shares — by the dollar amount
of stuff the company sold in
the past year; 3) Pour a cold drink and check out the hilarious "Star
Wars Kid ...
Every
step you take
Sydney Morning Herald, Australia - Jul
18, 2003
... Or, will you be the next "Star Wars
Kid" - the name bestowed on one hapless teenager,
ridiculed around the world when a private video of his sabre-twirling ...
National
Post
National Post, Canada - Jul
16, 2003
... Ghyslain is now known simply as "The Star
Wars Kid." Two Web developers in California
decided Ghyslain should be compensated for his unwanted celebrity and ...
Need
Help Distributing Files? Spread Them With BitTorrent!
The Mac Observer - Jul
14, 2003
... than evil. The longer answer is that I ran into
this while trying to
get a copy of the somewhat (in)famous "Star Wars Kid"
movie. I ...
Price
of glory
Sydney Morning Herald, Australia - Jul
11, 2003
... Dubbed the Star Wars Kid, the
15-year-old bespectacled boy, named Ghyslain,
became an overnight cult figure to net geeks everywhere. ...
The
world strikes back
Independent, UK - Jul
3, 2003
... was in for. Leslie Felperin enters the litigious,
cine-literate, and
supremely bizarre world of the 'Star Wars Kid'. Hands up
everybody ...
Star
Wars kid' emerges as an Internet hero
Baltimore Sun, MD - Jun
4, 2003
... In our celebrity-obsessed age, where even the
dippiest reality TV contestants appear
on the covers of magazines, the "Star Wars kid"
is a refreshing anomaly. ...
Jedi
dreams touch Net nerve
NEWS.com.au, Australia - Jun
4, 2003
... He's been called the Star Wars Kid
and the video of him has been distributed through
various sites on the Net and watched by a few million people who enjoy ...
West
to East
National Post, Canada - Jun
3, 2003
... QUEBEC - The "Star Wars Kid,"
who became a reluctant Internet celebrity after a
video of him wielding a golf ball retriever like a light sabre was downloaded ...
Rants &
Raves
Wired News - May 26, 2003
... Errr ... he's a poor guy that is being humiliated
("'Star Wars Kid' Gets Bucks
From Blogs," May 19, 2003). But why are all the people giving him money? ...
Slashback:
GSM, Buffy, Wobble
Slashdot - May 26, 2003
... GSM.". Adding Money to Insult. Neophytus writes
"Remember the 'Star
Wars Kid' that waxy.org found a couple of weeks ago? Well after ...
May
the farce be with you...
Melbourne Herald Sun, Australia - May
24, 2003
The heartfelt response, usually proceeded by laughter, is the
typical reaction to
the latest Net craze, a pixilated, two-minute video called The Star Wars
Kid. ...
Rants &
Raves
Wired News - May 23, 2003
... Instead of buying the kid ("'Star Wars
Kid' Gets Bucks From Blogs," May 19, 2003)
a computer, which will allow him to further sink into a miserable, lonely life ...
' Star
Wars Kid ' Gets Bucks Fro . . .
Neowin, Netherlands - May
20, 2003
Webloggers Andy Baio and Jish Mukerji launched a fundraiser
Friday for the young
man they call the "Star Wars Kid," whose home
video has been downloaded ...
'Star
Wars Kid' Gets Bucks From Blogs
Neowin, Netherlands - May
20, 2003
Webloggers Andy Baio and Jish Mukerji launched a fundraiser
Friday for the young
man they call the "Star Wars Kid," whose home
video has been downloaded ...
Slashback:
GSM, Buffy, Wobble
Slashdot - May 20, 2003
... GSM.". Adding Money to Insult. Neophytus writes
"Remember the 'Star
Wars Kid' that waxy.org found a couple of weeks ago? Well after ...
Star Wars Kid Story Takes A Dark Turn
Wed, Jul 23, 03 09:29:47 AM EDT
CTV gives an update on the Star Wars Kid video:
The four students who allegedly put the video on the Internet are facing a $250,000 lawsuit. It claims Raza has suffered "harassment," "ridicule" and "persecution" at school and in the public at large.
Raza ended up leaving high school and finishing his year in the psychiatric wing of a local hospital.
An employee of Raza's old school says the pressure on the young man was intolerable.
"When 500 people laugh at you every noon when you walk into the cafeteria, it can't be easy," says Rafael Jacob.
And in cyberspace it's not easy keeping a low profile once you get linked to Star Wars.
"Star Wars is one of the biggest virtual communities. There are millions of fans. So take this kid, put it together with Star Wars and bingo, it's a hit," says Internet consultant Francois Charron.
The Globe and Mail:
In a statement of claim filed last week in their home town of Trois-Rivières, the Razas say that Ghyslain was so widely mocked at his private high school that he dropped out.
He had to finish the session at Pavillon Arc-en-ciel, a ward specializing in child psychiatry at the Trois-Rivières Regional Hospital Centre. Ghyslain "will be under psychiatric care for an indefinite amount of time," the statement of claim says.
"The stigma of mental illness can generate social prejudices having severe consequences" on the young man, including making it more difficult for him to enroll in the school of his choice or get a job, or even forcing him to change his name, the document added.
The article goes on to say:
The statement of claim includes lengthy excerpts that it says come from Internet chats in May between the pranksters.
Complete with misspellings, bad grammar and cyber-style acronyms, the exchanges are used in the statement of claim as evidence that the boys lacked remorse. They also brag in them that they evaded attempts by school officials to find the culprits behind Ghyslain's misfortunes.
While the video of Ghyslain's antics generated some derisive Internet comments, others felt bad and started raising money for him. One group collected more than $3,000 (U.S.), which they used to buy him an Apple iPod portable music player.
In the excerpts from Internet chats filed in court, the four appear to be plotting ways to get the gifts sent to another address so they can keep the iPod for themselves.
Parents file lawsuit over Star Wars Kid video
By TU THANH HA
Globe and Mail Update
MONTREAL — The parents of Ghyslain Raza, the Quebec teenager who became a celebrity this spring after classmates posted on the Internet a video of him mimicking a Star Wars character, allege that their son was so humiliated by the experience that he had to get psychiatric care.
The revelation is made in a lawsuit his parents have filed against the families of four classmates they accuse of maliciously turning their son into an object of mockery.
The video of Ghyslain, a portly 15-year-old pretending he is wielding a double-bladed light sabre, has been downloaded millions of times from several Web sites, which dubbed him Star Wars Kid.
Many other pranksters have created their own versions of the clip, with added video effects and sounds. One has him moving at fast-forward speed to goofy music from the Benny Hill Show. Other parodies were made with unflattering titles, such as Dork Clones, or mixed in with sounds of flatulence.
In a statement of claim filed last week in their home town of Trois-Rivières, the Razas say that Ghyslain was so widely mocked at his private high school that he dropped out.
He had to finish the session at Pavillon Arc-en-ciel, a ward specializing in child psychiatry at the Trois-Rivières Regional Hospital Centre.
Ghyslain "will be under psychiatric care for an indefinite amount of time," the statement of claim says.
"The stigma of mental illness can generate social prejudices having severe consequences" on the young man, including making it more difficult for him to enroll in the school of his choice or get a job, or even forcing him to change his name, the document added.
"Ghyslain had to endure, and still endures today, harassment and derision from his high-school mates and the public at large," it said.
The story has appeared in newspapers around the world, from the New York Times to the New Zealand Herald.
The Razas are now seeking $225,000 in damages from the parents of four teenagers: Michaël Caron, François Labarre, Jérôme Laflamme and Jean-Michel Rheault.
They say the four stole the video from a school filing cabinet where Ghyslain had stored a video camera he was using for a student project.
The lawsuit says the four young men then digitized the video before sending it out on the Internet in April, with messages inviting people to make insulting remarks about it.
The statement of claim includes lengthy excerpts that it says come from Internet chats in May between the pranksters.
Complete with misspellings, bad grammar and cyber-style acronyms, the exchanges are used in the statement of claim as evidence that the boys lacked remorse. They also brag in them that they evaded attempts by school officials to find the culprits behind Ghyslain's misfortunes.
Ghyslain's parents and lawyers would not speak to reporters yesterday. The parents of the defendants either did not answer calls or refused to comment because the dispute was before the courts.
While the video of Ghyslain's antics generated some derisive Internet comments, others felt bad and started raising money for him. One group collected more than $3,000 (U.S.), which they used to buy him an Apple iPod portable music player.
In the excerpts from Internet chats filed in court, the four appear to be plotting ways to get the gifts sent to another address so they can keep the iPod for themselves.
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