Bristol Palin's Barroom Heckler Suing Her Over Incident Footage

Remember the fellow that called Bristol Palin's mother a "whore" last September? He now pretty much wants money for doing it.

According to Reuters, Los Angeles talent manager Stephen Hanks has slapped cable's Lifetime Network and the 21-year-old daughter of former Alaska Governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin with a defamation suit arguing he never consented to being filmed. The incident has made its way onto Palin's upcoming Lifetime reality series "Life's A Tripp." Palin's series chronicles her time in Los Angeles with her now three-year-old son Tripp.

Palin had just finished riding a Sunset Strip bar's mechanical bull early last fall when Hanks approached her and informed her that not only is Sarah "evil," but also a "whore." Not yet feeling enough heat, Palin then spat some gas on the fire by asking whether or not Hanks was gay.

Hanks' Los Angeles U.S. Federal District Court filing doesn't specify damages sought but Michael Gulden, Hanks' attorney, told Reuters that they'd chosen the federal route because Hanks was seeking more than $75,000. Hanks argues that in addition to never consenting to being filmed, Palin's inquiring about his sexuality in "a degrading manner" and claiming to In Touch Magazine that the incident motivated her to leave Los Angeles and return to Wasilla, Alaska publicly damaged his character. He further claims that Palin had bought a Wasilla home the previous July, indicating she'd already planned on leaving Los Angeles before the two ever met.

"Bristol Palin's conduct was outrageous," the lawsuit states. "Bristol Palin first accused Plaintiff of 'being a homosexual' in a degrading manner in front of others . . . she then in a magazine article blamed Plaintiff for her decision to leave Los Angeles for Alaska even though she had purchased her home in Alaska . . . more than two months before the encounter."

Approach this practically, for just a moment. Is there any reason to believe that someone's camera-phone footage of this wouldn't have made it online and gone viral in hours, even without the Lifetime crew there? Some belligerent asshole just got into the face of a politician's daughter and called her mother a whore. That's not exactly inconspicuous.

That's an important point, but not the most crucial one: any judge with any sense whatsoever will tell this jerk, "Hm, say, do you know what could have averted this whole mess? It would've helped if you hadn't called her mother a 'whore' without provocation. That could've avoided a lot."