Redskins owner sues newspaper

[February 03, 2011]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder has sued Washington City Paper over a column he says defamed him and had anti-Semitic references.

Snyder filed the lawsuit against the weekly paper and its parent company, Atalaya Capital management LP, in New York State Supreme Court on Wednesday. The suit seeks at least $1 million in damages for each of the two causes of action, plus punitive damages.

The cover story entitled "The Cranky Redskins Fan's Guide to Dan Snyder," has an altered photo of the owner with horns and a beard drawn in pen. The suit claims the weekly newspaper used "lies, half-truths, innuendo and anti-Semitic imagery to smear, malign, defame and slander" Snyder.

The suit also says the newspaper reported Snyder engaged in criminal conduct by "forging names."

Telephone calls to the paper Wednesday night were not immediately returned, but publisher Amy Austin, in a letter to readers posted earlier Wednesday said, "We believe we have the facts right."

In a post on the City Paper's website Wednesday, managing editor Mike Madden asserted the image "is meant to resemble the type of scribbling that teenagers everywhere have been using to deface photos for years," he wrote. "The image of Snyder doesn't look like an 'anti-Semitic caricature' -- it looks like a devil."

Snyder will contribute any monetary damages received to groups that assist the homeless, the lawsuit said.

[Associated Press]

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