Elisabeth Hasselbeck Denies Plagiarism Claims
June 25th, 2009
Elisabeth Hasselbeck has dismissed plagiarism claims against her, after a Massachusetts author filed a lawsuit alleging The View host’s book, The G Free Diet – A Gluten Free Survival Guide, was copied from her own.
Susan Hassett claims her self-published book, Living with Celiac Disease, was sent to Hasselbeck in 2008 and was ripped off “word for word” and is seeking $3 million dollars compensation.
“I just want to assure you the allegations are without merit and are being handled appropriately,” Hasselbeck said during her show Wednesday (June 24).
A statement released by her publisher, Center Street, said:
“There is no basis for the allegations in the Complaint as published in the press. Ms. Hasselbeck worked diligently and tirelessly on her book and is disappointed in this attempt to discredit her work and her ability to bring this important message to the public.”
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June 25th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Wow. I’m no lawyer, and I certainly won’t be the judge in the case, but when reading the letter, I was amazed to see that BOTH books apparently share the same misspelling — both books used “isle” instead of “aisle” to mean “supermarket aisle”; but “isle” is short for “island.” If that wasn’t just an error in the letter, and if I were the judge, I’d be taking a hard, HARD look at that similarity — especially since since Hassett’s book was self-published (some typos and minor errors are expected in a self-pubbed book), and Elizabeth Hasselbeck’s was published by a major commercial publisher — meaning it would have been (should have been) carefully edited several times before publication, so should have contained few or no errors. But yet, that *particular *identical error appears in the big-name-published book. And then there’s the “similar chapter titles” jolt to consider. Personal opinion? I think Elizabeth Hasselbeck’s attorney is going to have to work a little harder than for most celebrity authors to prove “no plagiarism.”