U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria said the law violated the
First Amendment rights of IMDb, a unit of Amazon.com Inc that
challenged the law, by singling out age data for special
treatment, despite being intended to serve the compelling
interest of curbing age discrimination in Hollywood.
"Regulation of speech must be a last resort," the San
Francisco-based judge wrote. "California has not shown that it
adopted a measure 'actually necessary' to combating age
discrimination."
The law was passed in 2016. It drew support from SAG-AFTRA, a
union representing some 160,000 actors, broadcast journalists
and other media professionals, which plans to appeal.
"SAG-AFTRA is extremely disappointed with today's ruling,"
General Counsel Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said in a statement.
"The court unfortunately fails to understand or recognize the
massive impact gender and age discrimination has on all working
performers."
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2018/Feb/21/images/ads/current/castlemanor_sda_FINANCIAL_2017.png)
The office of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, which
defended the law, did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
IMDb did not respond to requests for comment.
While actors in Hollywood have long complained they are passed
over for roles as they age, Chhabria said the California law's
advocates "seem to misunderstand" that the real problem might be
gender discrimination.
[to top of second column] |
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2018/Feb/21/images/ads/current/graue_preowned_21418.png)
He cited the willingness of many movie producers to team older
actors with much younger female actresses in leading roles, and TV
networks to pair older male anchors with younger female anchors,
rather than hire men and women of similar ages.
"The defendants barely acknowledge this, much less explain how a law
preventing one company from posting age-related information on one
website could discourage the entertainment industry from continuing
to objectify and devalue women," he wrote. "If the government is
going to attempt to restrict speech, it should at least develop a
clearer understanding of the problem it's trying to solve."
Chhabria had last February issued a preliminary injunction against
enforcement of the California law.
SAG-AFTRA combined the Screen Actors Guild and the American
Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
Its president, Gabrielle Carteris, wrote in 2016 that she would
never have won an audition for her role as 16-year-old Andrea
Zuckerman in the 1990s hit TV show "Beverly Hills, 90210" had
producers known she was 29 at the time.
The case is IMDb.com Inc v Becerra et al, U.S. District Court,
Northern District of California, No. 16-06535.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Cynthia
Osterman)
[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |