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Hasselbeck Accused of No Original Thoughts

Posted Jun 23rd 2009 10:00AM by TMZ Staff

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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121. I am finally sick of all these dumb ass comments.... My aunts book is about her struggle with this disease.. not general information on it. She was on her death bed more than once and for me to sit here and read about how the Elizabitch lovers think its some kind of joke blows my mind. Chances are not one of you have read both books. Hasseldouche even went so far as to use my Aunts dedication!!! Something she wrote for my late great-grandfather!! E.H is going to get what she deserves.

Posted at 9:21AM on Jun 25th 2009 by WOW

122. I'm not sure that Elisabeth Hasselbeck has ever had an original thought, so this comes as no surprise. On The View she offers up whatever the Republican talking point du jour is, or whatever she heard last night on Hannity. Sean Hannity should sue her for intellectual property theft. Try it sometime. Watch him, then watch her the next day. She's a parrot. That is what makes that skit on Saturday Night Live so funny. They always portray her with her sheets of paper she printed off the internet. Original ideas are not her strong suit.

Posted at 2:37PM on Jun 25th 2009 by ArmChairAnalysis

123. I'm not sure that Elisabeth Hasselbeck has ever had an original thought, so this comes as no surprise. On The View she offers up whatever the Republican talking point du jour is, or whatever she heard last night on Hannity. Sean Hannity should sue her for intellectual property theft. Try it sometime. Watch him, then watch her the next day. She's a parrot. That is what makes that skit on Saturday Night Live so funny. They always portray her with her sheets of paper she printed off the internet. Original ideas are not her strong suit.

Posted at 2:41PM on Jun 25th 2009 by ArmChairAnalysis

124. Elisabeth Hasselbeth needs a permanent time out from all media. She is terrible and nothing but an imposter. She would not have the intelligence nor the time to write this book as she spends all her free time watching "American Idol" and "You Tube" .....Sue Hassett should follow this suit through to the end as Elisabeth has obviously stolen the entire work as her own. How many term papers did she plagerize while a student at Boston College?

Posted at 1:46AM on Jun 26th 2009 by Timeout

125. She is so annoying and WRONG about everything, I enjoy watching the view but when she opens her stupid mouth sometimes I have to change the channel. I wish they would fire her, so I could watch the entire show.

Posted at 4:39PM on Jun 26th 2009 by snoopyd

126. Has anyone actually read the letter? I'm no Elisabeth fan, but those "plagiarism examples" are... not. There are other books about celiac disease that were written before either of the books in question that talk about lists of symptoms, shopping around the edge of the store and using cards in the restaurant. Those are ideas and concepts. They're not copyrighted. If there aren't some actual word-for-word passages in there somewhere (and if so why not use those in the letter when asking for a settlement instead of the so embarrassingly not even close to plagiarism complaint about a list of symptoms), there's no case.

Just like anyone who writes about fitness, or training a pet, or decluttering a house, there are only so many ideas and concepts in those topics. Authors use them in various ways all the time. One of the complaints in the letter is that there is a chapter on children with celiac disease! So now your book on decluttering can't have a chapter on closets if someone else has already covered that. Hope your closet is already tidy.

It's an interesting way to sell a book, though. Suing another author and then commenting on blogs and message boards that people can't compare properly unless they've read both.

Posted at 5:41PM on Jun 26th 2009 by Perplexed

127. Scroll to the bottom of this article to read a thorough review of Hasslebeack's book. For 17 years this magazine has done the work to educate the gluten-free set about living gluten-free. So of course, they have a few issues with the misinformation in the book.

http://www.examiner.com/x-11318-Atlanta-GlutenFree-Food-Examiner~y2009m6d30-GlutenFree-Living-magazine-sticks-to-the-facts

Posted at 7:53PM on Jun 30th 2009 by ATLglutenfree

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