Trump Lawyer Allegedly Sinks Claws Into Teen Over Cat-Scratch Website
In the era of "fake news," has the internet been Rickrolled?
Donald Trump (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty)
As the nation is acutely aware, Donald Trump seems to be a fan of bickering with those with whom he disagrees, and many have eventually found themselves on the receiving end of one of his cease-and-desist letters as a result. The latest victim of Trump’s supposed ire is Lucy, a California teen who allegedly received a cease-and-desist letter Alan Garten, the general counsel of the Trump Organization, over TrumpScratch.com, a website she coded that allows users to click on Donald Trump’s face to scratch him with kitten paws.
Lucy reached out to the Observer — a website that was formerly published by Jared Kushner, Trump’s senior advisor and son-in-law — to explain that she received the C&D letter about three weeks after the site went live, and later changed the name of the site to KittenFeed.com upon the advice of a family lawyer. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Lucy received yet another C&D letter after the domain name change because the site linked to an anti-Trump shirt. It’s a fun little website, and the more you use the kitten paws to swat at Trump’s face, the more scratches he gets. Check out a sample:
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Oddly enough, neither site has posted a copy of either of the cease-and-desist letters that were allegedly sent to Lucy by Garten, though they both describe some of the language that was purportedly used in the original letter. The Observer claims Garten’s letter describes Trump as a “well-known businessman” and goes on to state that “the Trump name is internationally known and famous.” The Hollywood Reporter claims that the letter says Lucy’s site infringes upon the “internationally known and famous” Trump trademark. It’s worth mentioning that the Observer later updated its story to note that Garten denied ever sending a such cease-and-desist letter to Lucy:
An external PR firm reached out on behalf of the Trump Organization, claiming the Observer never called regarding this story. We did.
Alan Garten, executive vice president and chief legal officer at The Trump Organization, provided the following comment through the PR agency:
“This is completely false. No such letter was ever sent by us.”
Of course, while it’s entirely possible that Garten’s statement is entirely untrue — in fact, given what’s happened over the course of Trump’s presidency thus far, the denial itself is unsurprising — this got us to wondering: How easy would it be to create a fake cease-and-desist letter from Donald Trump’s general counsel? Apparently it’s very easy, as much of the same language that was used in the C&D letter that was allegedly sent to Lucy is present in several previous C&D letters sent by Garten, copies of which have been posted online. For example, here’s one that was sent in September 2015:
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Why hasn’t the TrumpScratch cease-and-desist letter been published online in all of its ridiculousness? We’ve reached out to the authors of the Observer piece and the Hollywood Reporter piece to obtain a copy of the original cease-and-desist letter that was purportedly sent to Lucy, but have yet to receive a response.
Until then, we’ll note that KittenFeed’s soundtrack is none other than Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.” In the era of “fake news,” has the internet been Rickrolled?
UPDATE (11:30 p.m.): The Hollywood Reporter has since retracted its original article and added a correction, citing our reporting. “It’s a fake. This letter did not come from us,” Alan Garten said in a further conversation with the publication. Fact-checking website Snopes further cites our reporting in its rating about the story.
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(Flip to the next page to see a copy of the alleged cease-and-desist letter.)
Trump Organization: Cease-and-Desist Letter Over Cat Website Is Fake [Hollywood Reporter]
Did President Trump’s Lawyers Send a Teen a Cease and Desist Letter Over TrumpScratch.com? [Snopes]
Exclusive: Trump Sics Lawyers on Teen for Making Silly Site Where Kittens Punch Him [Observer]
Trump Lawyers Swipe at Teen Over Cat Website [Hollywood Reporter]
Staci Zaretsky is an editor at Above the Law. She’d love to hear from you, so feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.
