Hasselbeck Accused of No Original Thoughts

Elisabeth Hasselbeck ripped off a woman by plagiarizing her disease material -- so claims Susan Hassett, who fired off a letter to "The View" host just before suing her.

Elisabteh Hasselbeck Click to view docs

We obtained the letter -- in which Susan claims she sent Elisabeth a book called "Living with Celiac Disease" back in April of '08. Thirteen months later, Susan says Hasselbeck published the same book with a new title: "The G Free Diet-A Gluten Free Survival Guide." Yes, the title sucks.

Susan compares chapters and lines. Here are some highlights.

Susan's Book Chapter 1: What is Celiac Disease?
Hasselbeck Chapter 2: What is Celiac Disease?

Susan's tips: "Shop in the outer isles of the supermarket."
Hasselbeck's tips: "Food in the outer isles of the supermarket."

And the comparisons go on and on.

Susan just sued Elisabeth for copyright infringement and plagiarism.

UPDATE: We've just obtained a statement from Elisabeth's people: "Neither Center Street nor Elisabeth Hasselbeck has been served with the Complain in this action. However, there is no basis for the allegations in the Complaint as published in the press. Ms. Hasselbeck worked diligently and tirelessly on her book and is disappointed in this attempt to discredit her work and her ability to bring this important message to the public."

Tags: book, elisabeth, hasselbeck, living with celiac disease, LivingWithCeliacDisease, plagiarism, susan hassett, SusanHassett

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91. Susan Hassett is not an author and has never published a book on Celiac Desease or any other disease or any other subject for that matter. She claims to be self published. In fact a google search doesn't find any woman by that name with a book by that title. Either TMZ or the complaintant misspelled the word "aisles" as "isles." Not only that the sentence from Haselbeck's book in that example was taken out of context as it makes no gramatical sense. Unless the woman can proove more than a passing semantical simarilarity to Haselbeck's book she could be countersued for fraud.

Posted at 7:24PM on Jun 23rd 2009 by Don Cooper

92. Not the biggest EH fan but, reading the document, the case is weak, weak, weak. Love the end of the letter where the lawyer says, essentially "Despite your dastardly plagiarism and the grave harm you've done my client, er, uh we are open to an out-of-court settlement....". The entertainment value if this did go to court would be priceless.

Posted at 6:56PM on Jun 23rd 2009 by CAG

93. She is a complete idiot. Why is she even on TV. Seriously,a book on this should not be written by someone with no direct experience with this disease. She is stupid and I am surprised Whoopi is even on the same stage with such an idiot.

Posted at 7:03PM on Jun 23rd 2009 by AL

94. I'm thinking another liberal turd making a specious claim. Flush!

Posted at 7:03PM on Jun 23rd 2009 by libturd flusher

95. Something smells fishy to me. The lawyers' letter is filled with grammatical errors, and the quotes from Hassett's book have gross misspellings, punctuation errors and basic grammar mistakes. There was even a missing period on one phrase! What reputable publisher would put out a book like that?

Posted at 7:29PM on Jun 23rd 2009 by ddelux

96. Can't stand this Sean Hannity wannabe...she has no original thoughts!

Posted at 7:32PM on Jun 23rd 2009 by Oookkkaaayyy

97. For those of you who are attempting to turn this into a Democrat/ Republican debate, I would point out that the first person to publicly label Elizabeth as "dumb" was that super-rich REPUBLICAN Donald Trump. He referred to EH as the 'dumbest person on the show.'

Posted at 7:44PM on Jun 23rd 2009 by scales

98. well well well i am not surprised i must say she is dumber than dirt and never has an original idea...cannot and i mean cannot stand this woman...maybe just maybe she will now go away.

Posted at 7:47PM on Jun 23rd 2009 by SUSAN

99. When you think about it, Elizabeth has made a career out of re-stating other people's thoughts-- such as Hannity and Coulter-- and political pundits don't sue for this; they are actually flattered when someone repeats their rants. On the other hand, Elizabeth doesn't seem to be accustomed to actually THINKING and it probably never crossed her mind that it is illegal to take someone else's published ideas, rephrase them, republish them, and make money from it.

Posted at 8:00PM on Jun 23rd 2009 by scales

100. I enjoyed the earlier post about turnitin.com. I wonder about papers EH turned in if she attended college. I bet her professors didn't have access to that site. And to another earlier post - lay off the Republicans - not all of us are as uninformed as EH. Some of us can speak our mind and also have the ability to back it up. :)

Posted at 8:02PM on Jun 23rd 2009 by susan

101. Elisabeth Hasselbeck deserves the lawsuit if she plagiarized the book. Then she can compare notes with Ann 'Adams Apple' Coulter, who plagiarized from an anti-choice group (of all people) in her last book. Sen. John Ensign may be interested in comforting Hasselbeck. Rev. Bookburn - Radio Volta

Posted at 8:33PM on Jun 23rd 2009 by Rev Bookburn

102. Elisabeth H is about as stupid as I have ever seen. How she ever got on The View in the first place, makes me wonder. They must not expect a lot of expertise in that seat. I love Joy who never takes any crap from Elis and usually gives it right back to her. I also hope she stays home, where she belongs, with her 3 children (God Bless them and her husband too).

Posted at 8:29PM on Jun 23rd 2009 by Pat

103. Thanks Elisabeth for being one of the only ones with a brain on The View! We can always depend on you to keep things real. Don't believe anything these dimwits are spouting out! You are awesome!!!!!




Posted at 8:56PM on Jun 23rd 2009 by Dster

104. As a victim of plagiarism myself, I feel this must be true. Writers look at their words like they're their children and usually try and resolve it before a lawsuit . Plagiarists, beware!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TMZ should contact me to find out which current TV characters are based on an idea I posted on a screenwriter's message board--down to the exact names I used!!!! Shameful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted at 2:15PM on Jun 24th 2009 by gracella

105. i can't stand watching her on the view - she acts like a little child and starts raising her voice when she doesn't get her way. She needs to learn from the experienced women she works with.

Posted at 9:42PM on Jun 23rd 2009 by mo

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