Things have gotten a bit dangerous for many sites who have theorized on whose brain Negan bashed in. In fact, they can now potentially be sued. AMC is willing to go to any length the keep its secret until the season 7 premiere.
Odds are you have heard of The Walking Dead spoiler site/Facebook page The Spoiling Dead. AMC has now allegedly issued a warning that if they continue to speculate on the identity of Negan’s victim, they will end up in court.
In a letter to their followers The Spoiling Dead Fans had this to say:
Well Buttercups, we have some sad news to share today. After two years, AMC finally reached out to us! But it wasn’t a request not to post any info about the Lucille Victim or any type of friendly attempt at compromise, it was a cease and desist and a threat of a lawsuit by AMC Holdings, LLC’s attorney, Dennis Wilson. They say we can’t make any type of prediction about the Lucille Victim. Their stance is that making such a prediction would be considered copyright infringement. AMC tells us that we made some claim somewhere that says we received “copyright protected, trade secret information about the most critical plot information in the unreleased next season of The Walking Dead” and that we announced we were going to disclose this protected information. We still aren’t sure where we supposedly made this claim because they did not identify where it was.
Please respect our decision not to put our livelihoods at risk. AMC has been harassing us for four days now by contacting our homes, our family members and our employers; even posting on this page and personal social media accounts. We are fans of this show just like you and aren’t a commercial operation that makes profit. We have families and careers to think about. No spoiler will ever be worth compromising those things. If you think this makes us pussies that are bowing down to AMC then so be it.
After consultation with our legal counsel, we have responded to AMC that the TSDF staff will not be posting our prediction on who gets Lucilled on any of our outlets. We will also not be answering any questions about who we think it is. If you hear a potential spoiler elsewhere and bring it to us for confirmation, we will not confirm or deny it. If you message us privately and ask who we think gets Lucilled, we will not respond. The info may find another outlet on its own, but an official prediction will not come from the TSDF staff.
But let’s be real here. It’s unreasonable to think for a moment that the Lucille spoiler won’t come out before the air date. Our 2% of the viewership knows better. First, we aren’t the only spoiler business in the game. Also, simple observation and deduction can’t be prohibited. With much help, we have become very good at watching, listening, waiting, researching and separating the truth from the lies and being savvy when it comes to this show’s filming process. That typically reaches our goals. We are the reporters of this information. So while we will continue to post set reports, it will be up to you guys to take that information and make your own assumptions about who it is. We cannot assist by giving our speculation.
Just to clarify, we will continue to post all of our filming updates, eyewitness reports and all photos taken legally throughout the filming season just like we always have. We are by no means getting shut down. It’s still business as usual here, we just won’t be spoiling the biggest moment so far. Yes, we have taken a bit of a fall. But why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves back up again. (Thanks, Alfred!)
Very truly yours – The TSDF Staff
The Spoiling Dead Fans page is known for their talent of uncovering information and photos of Walking Dead cast, filming locations and spoilers before episodes and sometimes seasons which they publish on their site and Facebook page.
If what they say in the letter is true, AMC is being a bit harsh. I mean, what do they expect sites and fans to do but try to figure out what character from their favorite show was killed. Maybe next season they’ll take that into consideration and won’t leave fans with a major cliffhanger and a seven month wait.
