Ex-Channel 5 owner Desmond lawyers up over Wikipedia ‘pornographer’ bio
A billionaire former owner of adult magazines has hired lawyers to remove the descriptor ‘pornographer’ from his Wikipedia page.
Richard Desmond, who used to own adult TV channels and magazines including Asian Babes and Readers’ Wives, is reportedly fixated with his biography on the website.
An account acting on behalf of the former Daily Express and Channel 5 owner has repeatedly replaced the word with ‘philanthropist’, according to The Guardian.
Legal documents seen by the newspaper include Desmond arguing it is not factual to describe him as a pornographer as that term refers to the publishers of illegal and obscene material.
Desmond has argued his content was in a legitimate ‘adult material’ category instead.
He has now hired lawyers to instruct Wikipedia to permanently delete any mention of the term from his biography.
Lawyers said: “The use of the term ‘pornographer’ when applied to our client is at least factually wrong, gratuitous and insulting, and at most commercially damaging.”
Desmond’s legal team have suggested the edits to the page may be part of a “strategy by business competitors to harm his public image”.