The Simpsons voiceover artist Hank Azaria is embroiled in a legal battle with fellow actor Craig Bierko over who owns the rights to a comedy character.
Azaria, who performs the voices of Chief Wiggum, Moe the bartender, Comic Book Guy and many more on The Simpsons, is suing Bierko over who created a fictional baseball announcer called Jim Brockmire.
Azaria says he came up with the character of Brockmire for a video on the internet comedy show Funny or Die, and that he now plans to develop a movie based on the announcer.
Bierko, who appeared in the 2012 movie The Three Stooges, also claims he created Brockmire. After the Funny or Die video was released, Bierko demanded that Azaria stop using the announcer's voice, he said in the complaint.
In the case Azaria vs Bierko, currently being heard in the Central District of California Court, Azaria is seeking a judicial declaration that he has the copyright to the Brockmire character, “which incorporates the Azaria voice.”
As well as The Simpsons, Azaria has played parts in films such as Heat, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story and Mystery Men. - Bloomberg
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
