Hollywood newcomer Michael Avmen thought attending the Academy Awards would be the highlight of his burgeoning career. Instead, the actor claims that he and his wife were "tentatively confirmed" guests, but were "held against their will" for six hours in the Academy's "detention center," interrogated about how they were able to get onto the red carpet without tickets and accused of lying and trespassing. FOXNews reports that Avmen has now filed a $50 million lawsuit against The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for illegal false imprisonment and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.Actor Files Lawsuit Against Oscars For False Imprisonment in Academy 'Detention Center'
By PopEater Staff Posted Apr 23rd 2010 07:30AM
Hollywood newcomer Michael Avmen thought attending the Academy Awards would be the highlight of his burgeoning career. Instead, the actor claims that he and his wife were "tentatively confirmed" guests, but were "held against their will" for six hours in the Academy's "detention center," interrogated about how they were able to get onto the red carpet without tickets and accused of lying and trespassing. FOXNews reports that Avmen has now filed a $50 million lawsuit against The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for illegal false imprisonment and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.Avmen has small roles in three upcoming films this year -- 'Broken Blade,' 'Battle: Los Angeles' and 'Straw Dogs,' starring Kate Bosworth and Alexander Skarsgard.
According to a suit filed in Central District Superior Court in California, Avmen was told he'd been offered a tentative invitation to the event, but despite several attempts by Avmen and his publicist, they were unable to locate the tickets. It's not unusual for the Academy to hold tickets inside the venue; actors such as Robert Downey Jr. also received their tickets on the day of the event. Avmen claims he was led to believe his tickets were waiting for him there.
On the afternoon of March 7, Avmen and his wife dressed up for the Oscars and an usher for the event took them from their hotel to a "resolution desk," where Avmen met an Academy employee with whom he'd been in contact.
After six hours of interrogation, Avmen says uniformed Los Angeles police officers arrived and took them to the station, but no charges were filed. Avmen claims that the officer apologized profusely for how they were treated by Academy officials.
Avmen's lawsuit states that he and his wife were "injured in health, strength and activity" and "sustained injury to his and her body and shock and injury to their nervous system" and have since suffered "humiliation, mental anguish and emotional and physical distress."
"If I or some 'REGULAR' individual acted as the Academy did, we would be in prison right now. I will show that these people aren't above the law," Avmen said in a statement. "Security is one thing, but this was outside the realm of excessive. My wife and I have suffered, and there has been a great injustice enforced."
- Filed under:
- Movie News -
- Celebrity Scandal
celebrity one-stops
-
Jennifer Aniston
Is it Brad(ley) and Jen take 2? Jen was spotted out on the town with dreamboat ...
-
Paris Hilton
After Fairly Legal actress, Sarah Shahi, laid into Paris via Twitter for almost...
-
Kate Middleton
Kate Middleton is officially a princess. She walked the aisle in an Alexander...
-
Denise Richards
According to Denise, she's not sure that her estranged ex is completely sober....
Popeater Hot Topics
FOX 411
FEED- Actress Bynes arrested after tossing bong out of apartment window, police say
- Oklahoma natives Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood come to aid of tornado victims
- Morgan Freeman seems to fall asleep during on-air interview
THR
FEED- Rotterdam Fest Unveils Script Development Grant Winners
- 'Survivor: Caramoan' Winner John Cochran Lands CBS Writing Gig
- Cathy Schulman to Deliver UCLA School of Theater, Film and TV's Commencement Speech
EW.COM
FEED- EW's Bite of the Night: Submit your favorite quote from tonight's best TV!
- Woohoo! ?Simpsons' fans rejoice! Universal Studios is building Springfield
POPEATER HERE, THERE & EVERYWHERE
Sites We Love

- Actress Bynes arrested after tossing bong out of apartment window, police say
- Oklahoma natives Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood come to aid of tornado victims
- More From Foxnews.com
- Amanda Bynes Is Arrested in New York
- Jodi Arias Jury Fails to Decide on Death Penalty
- More From PEOPLE.com

- These 3D Bags Will Put Your Backpack To Shame
- Mariners Send Down A Player Named Jesus, Call Up A Different Player Named Jesus
- Matt Dallas Recreates His Classic "Kyle XY" Pose
- More From Buzzfeed

- Last Lap: Did Two Arrested Development Stars Get In A Fight?
- Mad Men + Daft Punk = The Internet Is “Doin’ It Right”
- Kim Kardashian’s Maternity Style Evolution: Kiki, or Heather Locklear on Melrose Place?
- More From The Fab Life

Add a comment
BAD VIRUS
Who writes these awful stories with misspelled words, missing words, pictures with wrong captions and pictures repeated several times. In this article about the Oscar lawsuit one part says: "actors Robert Downey Jr also received their tickets on the day of the event". Are the writers in pre school or mentally challenged? Thousands of people read these stories so why not have someone with a brain write them?
Reply
"actors such as Robert Downey Jr. also received their tickets the day of the event" is correct. The word "actors" is plural and so the word "theirs" is used. Know what you're talking about before you try to correct others.
They obviously don't have editors. They sure need them, tho'!
What do we have here? An umenployed editor? I used to edit (as part of a larger job title), and I read the article, sided with the persons harmed and didn't care whether or not there were problems in the article. If you are so hell bent on punctuation, grammer, and continuity, do the article,,,,,,sujbmict it,,,,,and try to prubish it! In other words, lay off and let people read content.
u r an idiot! wanna be writer. lol
I agree!
>>such as Robert Downey, Jr.
Applause, applause, applause!!
Hollywood is filled with a bunch of egotistical crybabies. It's always been a known fact. The reporters who write this crap is also uneducated and followers to these self righteous group!
"actors received their tickets"...SO the hell WHAT?
Reply
See what a little "HOLLYWOOD SUCCESS" can do to a person!?
Geez, get over yourself....
Reply
Forget the 50 million, just let him break their ribs without having charges filed.
Reply
FIRST: TO THOSE OF YOU WHO TRASH PEOPLES SPELLING,KNOCK IT OFF. THIS IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO GIVE AN OPINION, ITS NOT A SPELLING BEE.
SECOND: AVMAN AND HIS WIFE WERE MISTREATED. WHO THE HELL DOES THE "ACADEMY" THINK THEY ARE. IF ANYONE TREATED MY WIFE AND I LIKE THAT THEY WOULD HAVE TO SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES. HOPE HE BEATS THEM FOR MILLIONS THEN FINDS ANOTHER PROFESSION BECAUSE HE WONT LIKELY BE HIRED TO ACT.
Reply
Right on, N2..very rude to correct others spelling or typos. We all make em.
This law suit is BS and you know it. This wannabe actor is suing to try and make a buck. No where does this man say they were bodily harmed yet thats what he claims in his law suit. The charges are rediculous. Not only do i hope he loses but i hope no one hires him after this and hes black balled.
Learn to speak English and stop typing in all caps.
First: Must you whine at the top of your lungs?
Second: With all the wrongs actually perpetrated in the world, this is something worth defending? How silly.
We have spellcheck these days and there really is no place for incorrectly spelled words. Also, like the other person said....KNOCK THE CAPS OFF. It's rude and obnoxious.
So HE says. And he could be exaggerating or even flat out lying. Find a third party that can verify the story and then we can talk
Until then it is equally possible that he was in fact on a list to get in if someone bigger cancelled but no one did. Which is why he was never confirmed and made his showing up a kin to gate crashing. And chances are that he was told he couldn't go in and got pissed and rather than 'being held' he insisted on sticking around to press the matter until the only way to get him to leave was to have him taken out by the police. And now he's raising a stink.