Man sues Netflix after his photograph was unintentionally utilized in a real crime documentary
One of many extra enduring viral movies of the final decade grew to become the centerpiece of a Netflix true crime documentary early this yr. Dubbed The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker, the documentary focuses on an enthralling homeless drifter named Kai, whose actual identify is Caleb McGillvary.
Kai grew to become a viral sensation following a 2013 interview with a neighborhood information channel. The interview centered on Kai utilizing a hatchet to beat a person who was attacking an harmless girl. Kai’s affable and considerably quirky persona, coupled together with his considerably weird solutions to innocuous questions, propelled him to seemingly on the spot stardom. Earlier than lengthy, he had imprinted himself throughout the mainstream media, together with an look on Jimmy Kimmel Reside!
Kai’s story, nonetheless, took a tragic flip when he was arrested and subsequently convicted of homicide just a few months later. This hero-turned-villain story kinds the spine of Netflix’s true crime documentary which is nicely price watching in its entirety.
With that as a backdrop, an attention-grabbing story emerged within the wake of the documentary’s launch. It seems that one of many photographs used within the documentary featured a Kentucky man named Taylor Hazlewood. Within the photograph, which initially surfaced on Instagram, Hazlewood is seen holding a hatchet. All of the whereas, Hazlewood has completely zero connection to the true crime saga by any means. Because of this, Hazlewood is suing Netflix for defamation for associating his photograph with a convicted assassin.
The criticism reads partly:
The movie has been seen by tens of 1000’s of individuals, and because of Netflix’s false portrayal of him as, harmful, as a assassin, and/or as an untrustworthy particular person, he has been subjected to private misery, anguish and reputational hurt.
A better take a look at the fallacious photograph
The photograph used within the Netflix true crime documentary is viewable beneath:
As some extent of distinction, you may see what Kai seems to be like through the video that shot him to fame a couple of decade in the past:
Hazlewood’s lawyer stated that Hazlewood’s Instagram photograph had no connection to Kai and that Netflix would have identified this had it engaged in even a modicum of analysis.
“There ought to have been no confusion by any firm doing its homework when sourcing content material,” Hazlewood’s lawyer stated in a press release to Leisure Weekly.
Hazlewood’s criticism notes that he has had many buddies and acquaintances attain out to him to elucidate why his photograph was within the documentary. The criticism additional notes that the complete saga could influence his possibilities of discovering and conserving employment.
The criticism additional provides that Netflix is accountable for inflicting Hazlewood a variety of “reputational hurt.”
Hazelwood is suing for $1 million in damages.
