Avi Yemini has filed a lawsuit against Comedy Central and comedian Jim Jefferies accusing the U.S. based network of airing a “deceptively edited video” which falsely represented the TR News journalist.
Yemini’s interview for The Jim Jefferies Show was aired March 19, 2019, during an episode titled, ‘The Rise of White Nationalism.’
According to the lawsuit, “Defendants spliced footage of the interview, changed the sequence of the conversation, and implied Plaintiff said things he did not.
“Specifically, Defendant’s portrayed Plaintiff as ‘anti-immigrant’ and ‘anti-Muslim activist’ whose YouTube videos may be responsible for the radicalization of the killer who carried out the Christchurch, New Zealand massacres on March 15, 2019.”
A month after the episode was aired, Yemini and Sydney Watson travelled to the U.S. in an effort to expose Comedy Central’s dishonest reporting. However, when the pair arrived in Los Angeles, they were detailed and interrogated by the FBI.
According to Watson, the two were separated on arrival and questioned at length about their intentions to be “violent.” Authorities eventually released Watson but held Yemini for up to eight hours before deciding to deport him back to Australia.
Yemini is suing Comedy Central’s parent company Viacom for defamation and the intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Back in Australia, Yemini is currently suing Victorian Police, claiming he was unlawfully arrested during an anti-Australian Day rally after he was mobbed by angry protesters. The arresting officer initially claimed Yemini was placed under arrest for his own safety.
Last week Yemini was found unconscious in his home after suffering a cardiac arrest. His partner performed life-saving CPR for 8-minutes until the Ambulance arrived. He was discharged from hospital on Monday.
“How much is surviving a stress-related cardiac arrest worth,” Yemini tweeted on Wednesday to both the Victorian Police and Jim Jefferies.