Shanea Daniel, an exotic dancer with dwarfism, has been granted permission to proceed with a defamation lawsuit against Home Box Office’s (HBO) docudrama ‘We Own This City’. The presiding federal judge confirmed this verdict last week. Daniel contends that the television show falsely insinuated that she was involved in prostitution with the ex-head of the Baltimore Police Department’s Gun Task Force, Sgt. Wayne Jenkins.
This lawsuit springs from a particular sequence in ‘We Own This City’ where Daniel’s character is depicted to have sexual relations with Jenkins for financial gain. In actual fact, Daniel had given a lap dance to Jenkins at the Millstream Inn Gentlemen’s Club back in 2015. However, she firmly denies having any sexual engagement with him. The detailed judgment filed on December 7, 2023 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland can be accessed for further reference here
The television series ‘We Own This City’ narrates the ascension and decline of the aforementioned task force, providing the backdrop to the current legal dispute. As Daniel’s defamation suit against HBO moves forward, it underlines the responsibility of dramatizations to portray real-life characters and events with a high degree of accuracy and fairness.
For more information about this ongoing case, you can visit the original article here.