NBC News broadcast engineer Michael Queen is suing MSNBC host Ed Schultz for at least $100,000, accusing the left-wing talker of ripping his idea for a TV show off. TVNewser reports that Queen approached Schultz in January 2008 to make a pilot for a TV show, and filmed one at WUSA-TV in Washington, D.C.
Schultz’s lawyer, Jeffrey Landa, told The Daily Caller that Queen represented himself under a different name, Michael Anderson, in order to avoid scrutiny from his NBC bosses while he tried to pitch the show to WUSA-TV, a CBS affiliate. Landa said Schultz paid Queen $12,000 for all the pilot’s expenses, but that Queen wants more. Landa said Queen claims he took out an extra mortgage to pay for Schultz’s pilot.
“The reason why he was using the phony name was because he was dealing with CBS on doing the Sunday show and didn’t want us or anyone else to know that he was an NBC employee,” Landa said.
Since Schultz didn’t end up doing the show at WUSA and because there was never a contract, Landa said Schultz doesn’t owe Queen anything. Landa told TheDC he and Schultz plan to “vigorously defend” this lawsuit and that “there will be no settlements.” But Landa said Queen has caused other problems for him and for Schultz.
According to Landa, Queen stalked Schultz and his wife at the NBC headquarters in New York City, where Landa said Queen was somehow able to get onto the floor where Schultz’s wife was in the New York building, and followed her around the building.
“You can only go to certain floors, and they have to program the elevators from the outside,” Landa said. “He [Queen] somehow or another, got off on another floor that he wasn’t authorized to go to that Ed’s wife, Wendy, was on, and started tracking her down. I sent him one, possibly two, letters prior to this, because he was following them around to public events. This guy would show up at these events.”
A spokesman for NBC declined The Daily Caller’s request for comment. Queen could not be reached for comment.