The parents of Ghyslain Raza, better known as the Star Wars Kid, are suing the parents of the four teenagers who digitized and uploaded the video clip of Ghyslain getting his Star Wars Groove on to the Internet.
In a statement of claim filed last week in their home town of Trois-Rivires, the Razas say that Ghyslain was so widely mocked at his private high school that he dropped out.
He had to finish the session at Pavillon Arc-en-ciel, a ward specializing in child psychiatry at the Trois-Rivires Regional Hospital Centre.
Ghyslain “will be under psychiatric care for an indefinite amount of time,” the statement of claim says.
“The stigma of mental illness can generate social prejudices having severe consequences” on the young man, including making it more difficult for him to enroll in the school of his choice or get a job, or even forcing him to change his name, the document added.
“Ghyslain had to endure, and still endures today, harassment and derision from his high-school mates and the public at large,” it said.
The one and only published interview with Ghyslain I’ve seen didn’t give any indication that this kid was feeling particularly traumatized by this experience and I can’t shake the feeling that this lawsuit was more of a matter of opportunity than actual damage done to Ghyslain.
Which is a shame considering the fact that quite a few people came together to pull off a very successful fund-raiser that brought in over $4,000 and some other cool stuff for the SWK to say “thanks” for being a good sport about it only to have his parents turn around and sue causing some of the donors to rescind their offers. Hell, there’s even been a petition drive to get him included as a cameo into the final Star Wars movie and there’s some indication that Lucas Film might actually be considering it.
Late last night, those of us watching the E3 webcam saw the makeup dept. putting touches on various Wookiee masks, including Chewbacca’s. Then the camera showed us that the crew there was watching the infamous “Star Wars Kid” video. Then at 14:16:40 (on 6/3) the lady we’d been watching for most of the night turned to face the camera and held up a piece of paper. Written on it in black magic marker was this:
We Love Ghyslain. You Rock!! Jedi Kid.
She held it up long enough for the camera to snap a few frames. At 14:17:20 she held up another piece of paper, this time reading:
Ghyslain 4 Episode 3.? C’est possible, non?
With that much positive attention coming from this it’s hard to see how he’s suffered all that much. I’m sure initially he had a rough time of it, but it seems that he’s easily gotten as much good feedback from it as bad by now.
It’s hard to draw any conclusions one way or the other with the limited amount of information we have on him, but I know of people who would kill to have a video of them being a total geek gain such wide-spread exposure and fame.
Posted on 07/25/2003 at 01:33 PM 
If people are giving SWK a hard time then they are a bunch of dicks. So what is he looks a little silly or awkward, he is obviously having a good time. I never understood people’s need to ruin someone else’s day for no apparent reason.
If he ends up in Episode 3 it might be an inducement for me to actually go see it...Jar Jar has pretty much soured me on the 1st and 2nd episodes. Me thinky he no a-funny.