Nik Richie

Nik Lamas-Richie (born February 12, 1979) a/k/a Nik Richie is an American blogger, author, and Internet personality. Richie is best known for his controversial gossip website Thedirty.com which he began in 2007 as www.dirtyscottsdale.com. Born Hooman Abedi Karamian, Richie legally changed his name to "Nik Lamas-Richie" on August 30, 2010. He announced the change on his website with a posting entitled “Exclusive Breaking News: Hooman Karamian is Dead”.

Personal life
Richies first marriage was to Amanda Toney in 2005 which ended in 2009. Richie's second wife is actress and reality TV star Shayne Lamas. The pair met in Las Vegas and were married on April 18, 2010 at the Little White Wedding Chapel. The wedding took place 24 hours after the couple first met, and was announced to many surprised friends and family via Twitter, including a one-word tweet from Lamas which simply read: “Wife”. Richie remains popular on Twitter, with more than 500,000 followers as of July 2012.

The sudden marriage quickly generated media skepticism, but the couple denied rumors that the wedding was a mere publicity stunt. . Not everyone was convinced, with at least one source calling Richie a “stooge” and comparing the event to the odd marriage of Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley.

Despite the unusual beginning and predictions of a quick divorce, Lamas and Richie have remained married. On April 18, 2012, the couple celebrated their second wedding anniversary, to which Richie quipped: “Today is my 2 year wedding anniversary…just want to tell all my critics to SUCK IT!!”

Birth of Daughter
On November 11, 2011, Lamas and Richie welcomed their first child, a daughter named Press Dahl Lamas-Richie. Despite her unusual birth date -- 11/11/11 -- Press was not born at 11:11 am; she arrived at 12:01 pm via Caesarean section. Lamas says she chose the name Press after feeling her baby kick for the first time while eating at a restaurant called Press in the Napa Valley wine country.

Background
Richie is best known as the founder and contributing editor of the online gossip and “reality internet” website Thedirty.com. Richie began the site in March 2007 as Dirtyscottsdale.com while living in Scottsdale, Arizona. The content on Dirtyscottsdale.com initially focused on Richie’s personal criticism and lampooning of Scottsdale and its club scene, which he highlighted with “rudely captioned photos of drunk people, of breast jobs gone bad and so-called $30,000 millionaires showing off their cars, apartments and expensive jeans.” The current version of TheDirty.com allows users to upload their own “dirt” which may include news, gossip, photos, videos, or text, and users can comment on posts submitted by others. Richie has described the decision to create Dirtyscottsdale.com “as a joke for me and my buddies. The word spread so quickly it got out of hand.”

Anonymity Lost in 2008
In the early days of Dirtyscottsdale.com, Richie’s true identity was unknown. When the site began to receive widespread attention, Richie attempted to maintain his anonymity by giving media interviews in disguise, sometimes using a fake British accent, or sometimes appearing with his back to the camera. Using these methods Richie was able to keep his identity secret for 18 months.

Richie’s anonymity ended on September 4, 2008 after he was arrested for DUI and reckless driving in Scottsdale. On the police report, Richie (then Karamian) described his occupation as “web site writer” and his employer as “Dirty Scottsdale”. Ironically, prior to his arrest Richie included a section on Dirtyscottsdale.com which prominently featured mugshots of drivers arrested for DUI with a message warning, “"Learn to laugh at yourself or DON'T DO STUPID SHIT LOVERS!!!" Once news of his arrest surfaced, Richie publicly “outed” himself and admitted his real identity with a post entitled “Is Hooman Karamian (nice name) the Real Nik Richie?”

Criticism
Some have criticized Richie for the harsh comments frequently posted on his site, suggesting that the site “has ruined people’s careers and reputations”. One online petition to “Shut Down TheDirty.com” has received 21 signatures.

Others have questioned whether the site is actually a “public nuisance or a much needed public forum?” As interest in the site continued to grow, Richie was named one of the 10 most fascinating people by the Arizona Republic newspaper which noted, “what makes him interesting is that his site has prompted a dialogue about public and private space and about what is and is not celebrity.”

TV Appearances
In November 2010, Richie was interviewed by Dr. Phil during a nationally-televised hour-long episode devotedly exclusively to the subject of online bullying and gossip entitled “Dirt, Lies and the Internet”. Dr. Phil questioned Richie about the morality of a website which allows users to bash each other with hurtful comments, to which Richie responded, “well, there’s a marketplace for it.” Unimpressed, Dr. Phil observed “Well, there’s a marketplace for heroin too, but that doesn’t justify being a heroin addict.”  After the show aired, viewers posted more than 700 comments about the program on Dr. Phil’s website.

In November 2011, Richie was interviewed by talk show host Anderson Cooper in an episode during which he was confronted by Sarah Jones, the former Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader and high school teacher who is currently suing Richie for defamation. Richie was featured in an second interview with Anderson Cooper which aired in January 2012.

In June 2011, ABC News program 20/20 ran a story about Richie and his legal battle with Sarah Jones. Several months after the 20/20 story aired, Jones was arrested and indicted on felony sex abuse charges resulting from an alleged affair with one of her students.

News Events
Although much of the content on TheDirty.com involves local non-celebrity “civilians”, since 2007 the site has been involved in breaking several national news stories including:


 * In 2009, TheDirty.com published several nearly-nude photos of Miss USA contestant Carrie Prejean who had initially denied ever taking any such photos. The scandal eventually resulted in pageant owner Donald Trump terminating Prejean’s contract thereby stripping her of her title as Miss California. At the time, Prejean was under significant scrutiny for her answer to a question during the Miss USA 2009 controversy in which she was asked whether states should legalize same-sex marriage.  Prejean’s answer—that marriage should be between a man and a woman—was viewed as a significant reason for her not winning the Miss USA crown.


 * In 2008, TheDirty.com published several embarrassing photos of NFL quarterback Matt Leinart partying with several female college students. The event occurred while Richie was still anonymous, and the story resulted in widespread media exposure.


 * In 2010, Arizona congressman Ben Quayle initially denied rumors that he was involved in creating posts on Dirtyscottsdale.com. Several weeks later, Quayle changed his story and admitted that he did write material for the site using the pseudonym “Brock Landers”.  Despite the admission, Quayle was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives on November 2, 2010.


 * In September, 2011 TheDirty.com published a story alleging that actor/director Ashton Kutcher cheated on his wife Demi Moore during a tryst at a Las Vegas hotel. On November 17, 2011, Moore released a statement announcing her intention to divorce Kutcher.

Lawsuits
Richie has been the subject of several lawsuits relating to material posted on TheDirty.com. Like operators of other blogs and websites which allow third party users to submit content, Richie has argued that he is protected from liability by a federal law called the Communications Decency Act, 47 U.S.C. § 230(c), which provides: “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.” The CDA generally protects website owners and operators from most forms of liability; “Most courts have held that through these provisions, Congress granted interactive services of all types, including blogs, forums, and listservs, immunity from tort liability so long as the information is provided by a third party.”

At least one federal court in Missouri has agreed with this argument, holding that a lawsuit against Richie was barred by the CDA. The case, S.C. v. Dirty World LLC, Case No. 11-CV-00392-DW (W.D. Mo. March 12, 2012) involved a post entitled “Dirty Church Girl” which was submitted to TheDirty.com by a third party user. The young woman named in the post sued Richie for defamation and other claims, but the court held that Richie was entitled to immunity under the Communications Decency Act.

In another case, Sarah Jones v. Dirty World Entertainment Recordings, LLC, Case No. 09-CV-219-WOB a federal court in Kentucky reached the opposite conclusion, finding that Richie was not entitled to immunity in a case arising from several posts about a Kentucky high school teacher and part-time cheerleader named Sarah Jones. The decision has been criticized by some legal experts who described the case as “a troubling and probably lawless ruling.” The Citizen Media Law Project has posted a lengthy discussion of the case on its website, suggesting it could have a “chilling effect” for online speech.

As of July 18, 2012, the Jones civil case against Richie remains pending with a trial date set for November 13, 2012.