25 July 2003

'Star Wars Kid' sues classmates over 'stolen tape'

An internet prank has seen a 15-year-old boy from Quebec – dubbed 'Star Wars Kid' – sue classmates at his school for CD$225,000 (£100,000) for allegedly causing him mental anguish.

The boy, Ghyslain Raza, began the legal action after a videotape of him mimicking the high-flying martial artistry of a Star Wars character was posted up on a peer-to-peer internet site in April.

The tape has become cult viewing and one website dedicated to 'Star Wars Kid' has registered over eight million hits and one million versions of the tape have been downloaded from the site.

Ghyslain apparently videotaped himself emulating the character Darth Maul, from 'Episode One: The Phantom Menace', who uses a double-ended light sabre. However, he left the tape in the video recorder and it appeared on the internet a short time later.

The two-minute tape has since been updated with a variety of sci-fi special effects and there are now 38 different versions available for downloading.

However, the unwanted attention has seen Ghyslain launch a suit against four classmates for causing him harassment at school and the teenager has since sought psychiatric care.

Ghyslain's antics, however, has seen one weblog raise over $4,000 to buy him an iPod MP3 player and a petition has been launched urging George Lucas to give the teenager a walk-on part in the third instalment of the Star Wars saga. The online petition has generated more than 20,000 signatures so far.

(GMcG)