LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – A lawsuit filed by a father and daughter this week alleges that comedian Pauly Shore encouraged security members at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles to attack the father in 2022.
The suit, filed in Los Angeles County’s West District, claims that security members at The Comedy Store “violently grabbed and attacked” plaintiff Sean Kehoe on November 30, 2022, in the presence of his daughter, Kirra Lyn Potts. The allegations also state that Kehoe sustained “severe injuries” resulting in Potts facing “mental and emotional distress” and “extreme mental anguish.”
Both Kehoe and Potts allege that Pauly Shore “agreed with and encouraged” the attack, and the suit claims that he and The Comedy Store are both responsible for the security officials’ actions as a result of negligence in his “selection of hiring.”
The lawsuit seeks monetary compensation for previous and future medical bills, along with a to-be-determined sum for loss of earnings. The suit includes complaints against Shore and The Comedy Store for battery, assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, premises liability, and negligent hiring, training supervision, and/or retention of unfit employees.
This lawsuit comes just several weeks after news broke that Shore would play Richard Simmons in a new biopic, which Simmons later noted he did not approve of.
The Wolper Organization is backing the film, which released a statement about the project following Simmons’ revelation.
“While we would love to have him involved, we respect his desire for privacy and plan to produce a movie that honors him, celebrates him, and tells a dramatic story,” said The Wolper Organization in a statement. “We know he is deeply private and we would never want to invade that, however, he is an amazing person who changed millions of people’s lives, and the effect he has had on the world needs to be recognized.”
The legal actions and controversies surrounding Pauly Shore’s involvement in the alleged incident and the upcoming biopic project have sparked public interest and debate about the accountability of public figures and their impact on others.