Washington — The Supreme Court sidestepped Monday a brawl between former professional hockey player Tony Twist and a comic strip creator who named a violent mafia character after him.
Twist, a Canadian from Sherwood Park, Alta., claims the character in the Spawn comic series hurt his image and cost him endorsements. The high court rejected without comment an appeal from Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, who argued that his work was free speech.
McFarlane, a Canadian from Sherwood Park, Alta., had a team of Hollywood backers, including Michael Crichton, creator of the television series ER; Larry David, co-creator of Seinfeld; novelists Scott Turow and Jeremiah Healy; and actor-comedian Harry Shearer from The Simpsons.
They urged the court to use the case to clarify free-speech protections for artists, who routinely use the names of famous figures in their works.
The character, Antonio (Tony Twist) Twistelli, was not only used in the comic strip, it was also featured in an HBO spin-off show and on some hockey merchandise, Twist's lawyer told justices.
The real Twist, a former National Hockey League player known more for his fighting than his skating, was awarded more than $24.5-million (U.S.) by a Missouri jury. The award was overturned on appeal, but a court ordered a second trial. The case is McFarlane v. Twist, 03-615.
Twist, a former WHL star with the Saskatoon Blades, played 382 NHL games with the Quebec Nordiques and the St. Louis Blues. The six-foot-one, 220-pound left-winger scored ten goals and rang up 1121 penalty minutes, most of them as the Blues' enforcer, before his last big-league game in 1999.
