Entertainment News Update
The Hollywood Reporter states that Paramount has not faced a lawsuit accusing its staff of sexual abuse connected to a nude scene in the 1968 film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.
On May 25, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Alison McKenzie announced that the case would be dismissed, ruling that the film’s claims of depicting sexual acts were a grave misrepresentation of the scene.
Franco Zeffirelli’s version featured Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting, who were 16 and 17 years old at the time of filming. The $500,000 lawsuit falls under a California law that limits the window for filing child sexual abuse complaints and centers on a bedroom scene showing Whiting’s hips and Hussey’s bare breasts.
The plaintiffs accuse Zeffirelli of forcing them to shoot nude scenes despite an earlier requirement that they wear nude underwear. They say Zeffirelli told them they had to shoot nude or the photo would fail and warned that they would not work again in the industry.
The suit also claims Paramount profited from the alleged misconduct.
Judge McKenzie sided with Paramount, noting that the scene was not shown to be sexually arousing. He cited legal precedent indicating that not every photo or video of a nude child constitutes child pornography, but only images that display explicit sexual features.