Mario Lopez SCREAMS at cheerleader suing him for defamation during fiery court appearance
The Saved by the Bell star, 51, lost his cool in court this week as he sought a restraining order from Desiree Townsend, a former cheerleader for the Washington Commanders who is suing him for defamation.
Lopez is accused of launching a 'smear campaign' against Townsend and trying to humiliate her with a social media post, and she is seeking $10 million from the actor.
Townsend filed her lawsuit over an Instagram post Lopez shared last year, which showed a news clip from 2009 in which Townsend claimed she was suffering a rare neurological disorder called dystonia.
She alleged at the time that she developed the condition after receiving a flu shot, and she was seen slurring her words and gyrating for the cameras. The news team then followed Townsend as she began acting normally and driving a car, implying she was faking.
Lopez shared the video and captioned it: 'There's gotta be some kind of award for this performance… #MethodActor #OscarWorthy.'
After Townsend served him with a lawsuit at his home on Father's Day earlier this year, Lopez got a temporary restraining order against her - and was recently back in court trying to make the order permanent.
Townsend told Radar Online that when Lopez took the stand, he 'completely lost it' at her.
'He screamed, actually screamed, on the witness stand,' she claimed. 'He was so "pissed", as he categorized it, that the judge had to calm him down.
'He had a full-blown outburst, yelling that I was '"crazy, unhinged, and a stalker." And yes, he said all that while shouting.'
Townsend is set to be cross-examined by Lopez's attorney later in the week, and is likely to be grilled about a video she shared online showing her surprising Lopez at his home.
The actor was seen shirtless in the video confronting Townsend outside his home, refusing to open his gate and yelling at her.
As he called her a 'crazy b****', Townsend told a process server to throw the lawsuit through his gate.
'See you in court, Mario,' she said as she left his home.
Lopez subsequently filed a restraining order against Townsend, saying in court documents that he 'was harmed by the most recent harassment when Ms. Townsend arrived at his home on Father's Day with a process server.'
He said she was 'causing chaos and fear for his young children and family members who witnessed the event.'
'She then escalated the harm by posting a video of the service on TikTok, exposing his family and home address to millions of viewers, placing them at risk of further harassment, public ridicule, and potential physical danger,' the documents said.
Townsend filed her lawsuit over an Instagram post Lopez shared of news clip from 2009, in which the then-cheerleader claimed she was suffering a rare neurological disorder called dystonia and gyrated in front of the cameras
Lopez obtained a restraining order against Townsend after she showed up at his home, which she said surprised her as 'he's escalating this into a public spectacle when it could have been resolved quietly through civil litigation'
Townsend told Radar that she was baffled by the restraining order, and said: 'I truly don't understand what he's thinking.'
'He's escalating this into a public spectacle when it could have been resolved quietly through civil litigation,' she said.
'Filing for a restraining order feels like a clickbait tactic, and from both a PR and legal standpoint, it's likely to backfire. Especially when the very behavior he's calling 'harassment' is precisely what he did to me.'
Townsend's lawsuit against Lopez for defamation is still pending, and is based on his Instagram post sharing the archival footage of Townsend with 'dystonia.'
She became widely known as the 'vaccine cheerleader' when she made the claims in 2009, and was mocked for appearing to fake her symptoms.
It is unclear if Lopez and Townsend have any other connection besides the actor sharing the TV news footage to his Instagram over a year ago.
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