After Tom Brady won his last two Super Bowl MVP awards, he said other players on the Patriots really deserved it, and the truck that goes with the honor. This year, that resulted in Patriots running back James White being given a truck on Conan O’Brien’s show. But now O’Brien is facing a lawsuit over a joke he told about Brady and his MVP awards.
Alex Kaseberg, a comedy writer, is suing O’Brien because a joke O’Brien told on his show about Brady offering the MVP truck to Malcolm Butler two years ago closely resembled a joke Kasebert published on his personal website. The butt of that joke was Seahawks coach Pete Carroll for the Seahawks’ decision to throw a pass on the 1-yard line, which Butler intercepted to seal the Patriots’ win.
On February 3, 2015, Kaseberg posted this on his website, according to the Hollywood Reporter: “Tom Brady said he wants to give his MVP truck to the man who won the game for the Patriots. So enjoy that truck, Pete Carroll.”
That night, O’Brien said this on his show: “Tom Brady said he wants to give the truck that he was given as Super Bowl MVP . . . to the guy who won the Super Bowl for the Patriots. . . . So Brady’s giving his truck to Seahawks coach Pete Carroll.”
A judge ruled that O’Brien and his employer, Time Warner, will have to go before a jury to determine whether they violated Kaseberg’s copyright with that joke and two others O’Brien told.