The Fat Squad Fights Back

IN THE COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION

JOEY SKAGGS,
Plaintiff,
v.
MORGAN & MORGAN,
Defendant.

COMPLAINT FOR MISAPPROPRIATION OF UNAUTHORIZED SATIRE AND CULTURAL DILUTION

New York, NY — Artist, satirist, and cultural saboteur Joey Skaggs today filed a lawsuit in the Court of Public Opinion against America’s largest personal injury law firm, Morgan & Morgan, for shamelessly swiping his legendary Fat Squad media hoax and stuffing it into their latest commercial.

For the record, The Fat Squad (est. 1986) was a groundbreaking, internationally successful performance art hoax in which commandos were contracted to guard dieters around the clock—tackling them away from Twinkies, escorting them past buffets, and yelling “Drop that donut!” before it hit their lips. It is memorialized in both Andrea Marini’s “Art of the Prank” documentary and Joey Skaggs’ Oral History film series.

Joey Skaggs: The Fat Squad Tease:

Morgan & Morgan’s new ad? Blatantly similar—but with all the calories of satire burned off.

THE FACTS

  • Plaintiff conceived, developed, and performed The Fat Squad decades before TikTok, meme culture, or commercial law firms decided satire was good for business.
  • On or about August 1, 2025, Defendant released a commercial campaign which bears obvious similarity to Plaintiff’s original work.
  • Said commercial paraded themes, images, and absurdities long perfected by Plaintiff, without acknowledgment, credit, or the faintest wink of irony.
  • Defendant thereby committed cultural plagiarism in the first degree, profiting from the very social critique Plaintiff pioneered.

THE CHARGES

  • Count I: Cultural Grand Theft Satire
    Defendant unlawfully adopted Plaintiff’s absurdist concept without permission, thereby reducing art to advertising.
  • Count II: Unwarranted Enrichment by Unjust Laughter
    Defendant profited from jokes that weren’t theirs, without even a courtesy “tip of the wig.”
  • Count III: Infliction of Mental Distress
    Defendant forced Mr. Skaggs to endure the trauma of watching his biting social critique watered down into a punchline for legal fees. Symptoms include ironic groaning, eye-rolling, and muttering “I did it first” into the void.

DAMAGES DEMANDED
Plaintiff demands compensation in the form of:

  • A public confession from Morgan & Morgan, aired during the Super Bowl halftime, admitting Joey Skaggs is funnier than their entire marketing department.
  • Mandatory enrollment of at least one Morgan & Morgan attorney into the actual Fat Squad program, including midnight refrigerator raids and fast-food stakeouts.
  • Punitive damages: Morgan & Morgan agrees to provide lifetime pro bono representation for Skaggs–and for any other artists who suffer theft of creative concepts, whether analog or AI, in perpetuity.

PLAINTIFF’S STATEMENT

“When I created The Fat Squad, it was to satirize America’s obsession with weight control, and consumer excess. To see a law firm steal it and call it comedy? That’s not just plagiarism. That’s malpractice. Artistic malpractice.” —Joey Skaggs, Satirist-Still-At-Large

CONCLUSION

The Fat Squad doesn’t forgive. The Fat Squad doesn’t forget. And if Morgan & Morgan thinks they can out-satire Joey Skaggs… well, let’s just say the Court of Public Opinion is always in session, and the jury is already laughing.