The lawsuit Steven Seagal blamed on his secret role in matters of national security: “Absolutely frivolous”
There’s no bigger Steven Seagal fan on this planet than Steven Seagal. The actor has gained a reputation for buying so far into his own hype that he probably can’t tell the difference between fact and fiction anymore.
The ponytailed martial artist and B-tier action hero openly shared that he helped train agents for the CIA despite the complete lack of evidence to substantiate his claims. Seagal also offered that his rough upbringing on the streets, where other kids of his age were afraid of him, toughened him up, which was debunked by no less of an authority than his own mother, who called him “puny”.
He headlined the reality TV series Steven Seagal: Lawman and proudly proclaimed that he’d been an official member of law enforcement for decades while neglecting to mention that his title was an entirely ceremonial one and there was no proof to back up his assertions that he’d received certification from the Los Angeles police academy he said he attended to gain his qualifications to dish out justice.
The delusional reincarnation of a centuries-old Tibetan monk has additionally taken credit for revolutionising the world of mixed martial arts by teaching several champions a signature kick they used to power their way to victory, even if he shit his pants and passed out when he was placed in a very real chokehold by the legendary Gene LeBell.
The vast majority of stories touting Seagal’s prowess in any field tend to come directly from the man himself, which is why it didn’t register as a surprise when he was slapped with a lawsuit and tried to argue his way out of it by touting his top-secret role in matters of national security that obviously couldn’t be made public lest the geo-political dominoes topple irrevocably.
One thing that many colleagues have corroborated over the years is that Seagal is a dickhead who’s often made life a misery for his co-workers on set, so production companies Kill Master and Nu Image filing a lawsuit against him seeking $14 million in damages for his unprofessional behaviour was hardly a shocking development.
The 2005 filing accused Seagal of frequently turning up late to the sets of Today You Die and Mercenary, where he made unauthorised changes to the screenplays that potentially cost millions of dollars in production delays and broken contracts after the alterations changed the stories of each film so much that the plot barely resembled the one that had drawn in financial backers in the first place.
As tends to be the case, the actor’s team denied that they’d “continually harassed, intimidated, and threatened the production” and made demands “that were inappropriate, outrageous, or not contractually required.” Naturally, Seagal’s representatives issued a rebuttal, calling the lawsuit “absolutely frivolous” and “filed in bad faith”.
That’s not the most interesting and stereotypically Seagal part, though. On the last day of shooting on Today You Die, it was acknowledged that the leading man had left the set five hours early, but there was a very good reason. Apparently, his schedule conflicted with a very important dinner he needed to attend, one that he described as having “national security implications.”
What were these matters of national security that Seagal, a useless relic of a bygone era who hadn’t been relevant since the early 1990s, was required to deal with in person? Nobody knows, which is typical. Once again, it can’t be disproven, but for the umpteenth time, there’s a strong scent of utter bullshit about it.
