The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) is demanding an immediate public apology and retraction from the FOX Broadcasting Company and associated networks for their defamatory use of a photograph of LASD Commander Steven D. Katz.
FOX incorrectly identified him as a detective involved in the investigation of the death of Christopher Wallace (Biggie) in the primetime special entitled “Who Shot Biggie & Tupac?” The two-hour segment, produced by ‘Critical Content’ for the network, aired nationally on FOX Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017.
The program incorrectly portrayed the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and its employee, Steven D. Katz, as being involved with the investigation into the death of Wallace.
The segment defamed Katz by repeatedly showing his photograph and expressing through graphics, an indication of “disgrace and outrage” into the handling of the case. The program also erroneously depicted the LASD as part of the investigation by showing our employee wearing his LASD name badge and standing in front of LASD logos, and indicating several times through graphics and statements, that he was the “Lead Investigator of [the] Biggie Murder.”
The show’s hosts, Soledad O’Brien and Tracy Lauren Marrow (Ice-T), made derogatory comments alleging that the investigator lied and concealed files while showing photos of Commander Katz. IN FACT, neither the Sheriff’s Department nor Commander Steven D. Katz had any involvement in the investigation into the death of Wallace (Biggie).
