Meanwhile, Gawker claims it had nothing to do with the leak

Jan 28, 2014 07:30 GMT  ·  By

Tarantino's much debated script leak is turning into a media scandal and one with potential legal repercussion at that. The director is lashing out at Gawker, the first large media outlet to provide access to his “Hateful Eight” script.

To counter, Gawker posted an article on their affiliate website, Defamer, in which they claim they had nothing to do with the leak per se, and merely linked their readers to two sites that had already hosted the online version of the script.

Moreover, the site alludes that Tarantino was keen on releasing the script online and has created this scandal artificially when he first talked to certain members of the press and blasted the people who “leaked” his script without his permission.

Despite the fact that only 6 copies of the first draft of “The Hateful Eight” were given to 6 separate people, three of which were actors known to Tarantino and who were involved in the casting process, the script somehow found its way online.

“Someone unknown to Gawker put it on a web site called AnonFiles, and someone unknown to Gawker put it on a different web site called Scribd. Last Thursday, Gawker received a tip from a reader informing us that the script was on the AnonFiles site, after which Gawker published a story reporting that the script had surfaced online,” says Gawker in their retaliation piece.

While Gawker is not being sued for direct copyright infringement, they are being sued, however, for “contributory copyright infringement for linking to a site that is being sued.” They are also pointing fingers at Deadline, the site that first broke the news of the Tarantino leak.

At the moment, it's not clear if Tarantino will pursue “The Hateful Eight” project as a film, having stated his intention to turn it into a published book. Meanwhile, the irate director looks set to take down every news agency involved in publishing his script.