TMZ removes Verne Troyer sex tape from site

[Liddo Annie]

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A 25-second snippet of video showing actor Verne Troyer and a former girlfriend having sex, available online over the past couple of days, is all the world will see of the tape -- for now.
Verne Troyer, best known for playing Mini Me in "Austin Powers," says a sex tape was stolen from his home.

Verne Troyer, best known for playing Mini Me in "Austin Powers," says a sex tape was stolen from his home.

On Friday, a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order requested by Troyer's attorneys that prevents porn distributors from taking orders for the full-length video and prevents TMZ from broadcasting any more clips.

The celebrity Web site posted the short segment on its site Wednesday; Troyer sued the site and porn distributors Thursday for $20 million in damages.

U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez wrote that Troyer's motion "demonstrated that he will suffer irreparable harm to his reputation" if the tape is distributed. It barred further broadcasting of the tape, which Troyer's attorney, Tracy Rane, interpreted as meaning that TMZ has to remove the video from its site.

TMZ removed the snippet of the tape by late Friday afternoon, instead redirecting Web viewers to its home page. Another post describing the lawsuit remained active Friday.

Troyer is most famous for his role as Mini-Me in two of the "Austin Powers" movies and also co-stars in the new movie "The Love Guru." He claims that the sex tape he made with a former girlfriend was stolen from his home months ago.

TMZ, which did not return telephone messages Friday, reported that the video could fetch $100,000 from a porn distributor. SugarDVD wrote in a statement on its Web site that it hoped to reach a deal with Troyer to distribute the full 50-minute version.

Gutierrez also indicated in his ruling that he may be inclined to issue a more forceful preliminary injunction unless TMZ and other parties demonstrate why it should be released.

Troyer's suit claims that release of an excerpt of the tape was an invasion of privacy and copyright infringement. He is also seeking the return of all copies of the video.

His suit claims that he made the tape with his former girlfriend and never intended it to be shown publicly.

The lawsuit included a pair of letters e-mailed to TMZ and SugarDVD, telling both entities to remove mentions of the tape from their Web sites and halt any plans to distribute it.


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i wonder how midget sex works. =x

[froggyboy604]

He should of encrypted his video file or password protect it in a zip file instead of just recording it on to a DVD, or VHS which any player can play.

It's kind of odd having a name called mini me and having a sex video being distributed of mini me having sex.

[Liddo Annie]

not everyone is tech smart sadly. But then there's always the hackers, just like with Edison's sex scandal. Apparently the pictures were retrieved after deleted them? I think, or so i heard...

[froggyboy604]

Verne Troyer should have big guard dogs, or a security system. Even putting the tape in a safety deposit box at the bank would have been a good low tech way to protect his tape.

But, people are careless and don't really think about these things.

[JinxieJanx]

Good, I can't believe they had the indecency to post it in the first place. I can understand posting a story about it.. but why post a clip of the disgusting sex tape. Ew.. its gross to even think about it.

[froggyboy604]

I think TMZ should not post sex tapes on their website since they have a lot of teen and children readers since it is now a popular TV show. It's like an anime site about Sailormoon posting Sailormoon hentai (anime porn).

People posts sex tapes of celebrities because the public will be curious about it.