Gossip site Radar Online has published a photo of Carmen Carrera’s breasts as the lead image for an article alleging Playboy playmate Kendra Wilkinson’s husband is cheating on her “with a transsexual,” an offense it claims is “the ultimate betrayal!”
Staff writer Andrea Simpson wrote the article, according to its byline, which includes an exclusive source sharing intimate details about an alleged sexual encounter between Wilkinson’s husband Hank Baskett and what Simpson describes as “a woman born as a man!” Note her excessive use of the exclamation point to convey some sort of outraged shock — she also does this when she writes for the National Enquirer.
Simpson does take note of the recent allegations that J Lo’s former boy toy Casper Smart was involved in a relationship with a trans woman, though she refers to trans women exclusively as “transsexuals” and does not imply that Baskett and Smart shared the same woman. Her implication, clearly made by printing an identifiable photo of Carmen Carrera’s breasts to represent a “transsexual” in a sexting scandal, is that Carrera has something to do with this.
A quick reverse image search on Google reveals that the photo of Carrera was taken in February at The Blonds’ New York Fashion Week show after party. The Daily Mail originally printed the photo — an official Getty image at that — in its coverage the morning after.
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Perhaps Andrea Simpson just doesn’t know what trans women are or what “transsexual” is, for that matter. She links a sentence claiming “[Baskett] had never been with a transsexual before” to an image gallery of Holly Madison and the Playboy bunnies.
Aside from her wildly defamatory use of Carmen Carrera’s image, these are the additional details Simpson’s “source” offers:
During their first romp, “They mutually masturbated her and he touched her breasts and penis,” the source claims. “The entire encounter lasted probably about 15, 20 minutes.”
“Before leaving, he gave her almost $500 and told her he wanted to stay in touch,” the source claims.
And he stayed true to his word. According to the source, “They spoke a couple times after their first sexual encounter. Hank always called from different numbers, and at least once from a pay phone.”
“After the Casper Smart transsexual controversy, he started to get freaked out and paranoid she would say something, and called her six times in one day to plead with her not to spill,” says the source.
“He promised he would take care of her financially, and even left her $2,000 in a coffee cup at her house. He promised her $5,000 to keep her mouth shut, and even threatened to kill himself if the story got out!”
Regarding the legality of the use of Carmen Carrera’s image for this story, it’s probably safe to say that Radar Online subscribes to the Getty image service and is well within its rights to print the photo. However, no credit is given to Getty for its replication and there is no indication that the image is of Carmen Carrera.
Any attorneys out there want to jump in and advise Carrera of her rights in a case like this?
The original story as it appeared on Radar Online is screen capped in its entirety below:
Update 1:06pm: The Daily Mail has identified the trans woman implicated in the Radar Online story above as “transsexual model” Ava Sabrina London in an exclusive interview with the paper this morning.
After the publication of this Queerty post this morning, Radar Online altered the photo in their lead image to what is displayed below. They offered no correction statement or apology:
Cam
You know, I’m not sure what the legality is since the picture wasn’t of Carerra’s face, and didn’t identify her.
If the image is copyrighted I’m assuming they could go after Radar Online, but it isn’t defamatory unless people actually know that it is Carerra’s breasts in the picture. Which may be why they are now letting every body know. Clever Girl.
Matthew Tharrett
@Cam: What I’d like to know is whether Andrea Simpson is trying to directly implicate Carrera as the trans woman having an affair with Hank Baskett, or if she quickly googled “transsexual boobs” as an afterthought before publishing this. Slicing her head off and conveniently leaving her name out would certainly be a way to do this, but if this item is only gossip and if Carrera is not involved, the use of her photo as the lead on a story about a “transsexual” affair is reprehensible.
For what it’s worth, I’ve reached out to Carrera to see if she gave permission for the use of her photo (not that she would need to, as I stated above). I’ll update if/when I hear back.
jayj150
Well, she’s a transsexual stripper, they’re not that far off.
Cam
@Matthew Tharrett:
Good point, is she trying to implicate her, or is the story B.S. and she knows this and is just putting any pic out there? Be interesting to see what Carerra’s response is.