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CONFIDENTIAL

1 I N THE UNI TED STATES DI STRI CI COURT

2 FOR THE SOUTHERN DI STRI CI' OF CALI FORNI A
3

4 LOU BAKER, individually and: Case No. 3: 14- cv-

5 on behalf of all others : 2129- MVA- AGS
6 s imilarly situated,

7 P1 a i nt i ff

8 vs.

9 SEAVORLD ENTERTAI NVENT,

10 et al
11 Defendant S.

12
13

14 CONFI DENTI AL
15 Videotape aposi t on of FREDERI CK D. J ACOBS,
16 VOLUVE 1, taken pursuant to Notice, at the law

17 offices of Kessler, Topaz, Al t zer & Check, LLP,

18 280 Ki ng of Pr us si a Road, Radnor, Penns yl vani a,

19 contlenci ng at 10: 10 a. m , on TUESDAY, DECEM3ER

20 1 8, 2018, before Rose A. Tamburri , RPR, CM CCR,

21 CRR, ISCRA Speed and. Accuracy Chanpi on and Notary

22 Public.
23

24 J ob No. 3106831
25 PAGES 1 - 316

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1 A. In most cases,1 would -- let me --
2 let me back up.
3 So if if I went to a -- my
4 supeivisor, whether it was Tony or Jill or Jim
5 Atchison, and of course Jim wasn't my
6 supervisor, but had authority to -- and -- and
7 got very specific direction, I would not then
8 seek additional approval on the precise
9 language that I was going to use to -- to
10 resolve the media inquiry.
11 So if it was a -- a simple matter
12 offact, and I had specific direction on how
13 to deal with it. I would deal with it and
14 there would be no further approval that I
15 would seek on the actual language.
16 Q. Were there any times in 2013 when you
17 responded to a media inquiry from — strike
18 that -- when you responded to a media inquiiy
19 regarding Blackfish where you did not obtain
20 approvals before responding, even though you
21 were responding with new information, not
22 information that was a canned answer from a
23 prior answer?
24 MR.LOHNES: Objection to form.
25 MR. YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
Page 58
1 THE WITNESS: So ifI understand
2 your question, did I answer a question based
3 strictly on my own authority; is that correct,
4 without any guidance on the substance ofthat
5 response?
6 MR.D'ANCONA: That's what I'm
7 asking.
8 THE WITNESS: I don't recall --
9 MR.D'ANCONA: Okay.
10 THE WITNESS: -- doing that.
1 1 BY MR. D'ANCONA:
12 Q. Blackfish premiered at the Sundance
13 Film Festival in Janualy of2013. Do you
14 recall that?
15 A. Yes, I do.
16 Q. And you went to see it at Sundance;
17 right?
18 A. Yes,I did.
19 Q. And is it fair to say that Blackfish
/0 presents a -- a negative portrayal of
21 SeaWorld?
22 A. Yes.
23 Q. You went in your capac -- you went to
24 see the film in your capacity as a SeaWorld
25 employee; correct?
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A. Correct.
2 Q. What was your purpose in going to see
3 it?
4 A. It was to -- and I was with two other
5 executives, Chuck Tompkins, who was a senior
6 member of our zoological staff and a -- and a
7 very experienced animal trainer, and then an
8 attorney, Matt Rearden, who was at that time
9 responsible for intellectual property matters.
10 At least that's my recollection.
11 So the -- the company had decided
12 that the three of us would go and judge
13 Blackfish based on our specific areas of
14 expettise. So yes,that's — that was the
15 purpose of me going.
16 Q. What did you think ofthe film when
17 you saw it?
18 A. I was really disappointed, frustrated
19 by it. I had gone to Sundance in the hope
20 that Blackfish could be easily dismissed,that
21 it would be amateurish or plainly inaccurate,
22 something that would give us the ability to
23 deal with it quickly and with sort of minimum
24 interruption to our business, but -- but what
25 I saw really wasn't that at all.
Page 60
It was a — it was a very powerful
2 and emotional film, extremely well made, and I
3 felt represented a problem,very serious
4 problem for us.
5 Q. Was Blackfish plainly inaccurate?
MR. YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
7 THE WITNESS: There were
8 inaccuracies in it, but that -- my -- my
9 primary takeaway from the film really was that
10 it didn't give us an awful lot to work with in
11 terms of inaccuracy.
12 And one ofthe reasons that we had
13 brought Chuck was because he was a -- he was
14 present for a lot of the things that were in
15 Blacklish and would be able to answer that
16 question better than I could; that is what
17 was what was inaccurate, what was
18 misleading, what was unfair. So that --
19 that's why he was present.
20 Matt was present, as I =call,
21 because he could reflect on whether the
22 filmmakers had -- had inappropriately used
23 intellectual property of ours and perhaps we
24 would have some defense there.
25 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
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1 Q. When you say it didn't give you a lot
2 to work -- an awful lot to work with in terms
3 of inaccuracy,can youjust explain what you
4 mean?
5 A. Well, if-- if I,just based on my
6 long time with the company, my sort of
7 immersion in these animal rights issues over a
8 long period oftime, if I could just, in that
9 short 80 or 90-minute span, begin to kind of
10 catalogue things that are clearly wrong with
11 the film,then we're about halfway to
12 discrediting the film as an act ofjournalism,
13 as an act of, you know, documentary filmmaking
14 and essentially destroy it before it has any
15 real impact on -- on us.
16 But the film had multiple cast
17 members who were former SeaWorld employees,
18 and that was one ofthe most damaging parts of
19 the film, probably the most damaging,that
20 these men and women who worked with killer
21 whales,in the water with killer whales were
22 actually members of the — the cast ofthis
'
73 film.
24 So there were things that I — I
25 don't recall anything specific, but there were
Page 62
1 times in the film where I can say, well, you
2 know what,that's not quite right or that's
3 not right at all, but I don't remember leaving
4 the theater thinking okay,this is a slam dunk
5 for us.
6 Q. Slam dunk in terms of --
7 A. Defending.
8 Q. -- misrepresentations or
9 inaccuracies?
10 A. Helping. That's right.
1 1 Q. Okay.
12 And you said you felt that the
13 film represented a problem,"a very serious
14 problem for us," can you explain what you
15 meant by that?
16 A. Well,the -- the film is about the
17 death of Dawn Brancheau., but it's more than
18 that. It's -- the -- the thesis of the film
19 is the death of Dawn Brancheau or the death of
/0 somebody was inevitable because SeaWorld
21 shouldn't have been in the killer whale
22 business to begin with,that killer whale
23 display was intrinsically immoral and -- so if
24 you -- if you look at all ofthe ways that a
25 -- that that thesis can be presented to the
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1 public, whether in a newspaper article or a TV
2 story or a book,it had been cast in all those
3 forms to -- to the point of, you know,
4 January 2013.
5 There had been a very lengthy,
6 scrupulously researched book by David Kirby,
7 there had been a book by Tim Zimmerman,ther
8 had been long form articles in -- in -- in the
9 newspaper and in magazines,thousands and
10 thousands oftelevision stories.
11 So we had reached this point where
12 the -- where it felt like maybe, you know, we
13 were starting to heal a little bit after the
14 death ofDawn,and then Blackfish comes along
15 and -- and tells the story in a way so much
16 more emotional,so much more persuasive than
17 anything that we had seen before.
18 I mean,if you were able to wade
19 through the 450 pages of David Kirby's book,
20 you might be left with outrage, but frankly,
21 nobody was willing to wade through 450 pages.
22 Blackfish only requires you to sit
23 there for, you know,80 minutes or 90 minutes
24 or whatever, and they're going to tell you the
25 story and they're going to tell it to you. in a
Page 64
1 way that's — that's emotional, highly
2 selective, I should say that. That's one of
3 our complaints with the film then and -- and
4 for me now,is that the film is entirely
5 selective in how it tells you a story.
6 Q. Selective in what sense?
7 A. Well, it's only those things that
8 cast SeaWorld in a negative light gathered
9 over a 54-year history, or whatever the
10 history was. So to me, Blackfish was unfair
11 and it was incomplete.
12 Q. SeaWorld had -- had SeaWorld been
13 asked to participate in the making of
14 Blackfish by the director?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. And did -- did SeaWorld participate
17 in the making of Blackfish?
18 A. We declined.
19 Q. So SeaWorld had the opportunity to
20 participate, but declined to?
21 A. That's right.
22 Q. Okay.
23 After you saw the film,did you
24 have a sense of how you thought it would
25 affect potential SeaWorld customers who saw
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1 it?
MR.YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
3 THE WITNESS: Yes.
4 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
5 Q. And what was that sense?
6 A. Well, I -- I felt it wasn't going to
7 have a good effect If you saw the film and
8 were ambivalent about SeaWorld, this -- the
9 real risk was that it was going to tun you,
10 at a minimum,anti-SeaWorld and -- and in an
11 extreme case, might turn you into an activist
12 against SeaWorld.
13 It's very hard to watch that film
14 and not have -- not leave with your opinion.of
15 SeaWorld altered in some way,and that way
16 would almost always be negative.
17 Q. Did you think that Blackfish would
18 only have an audience with people who were
19 already animal activists?
20 A. I hoped that, but after seeing the
21 film, my worry was that this story just became
22 less -- you know, we've seen this many times
23 where -- where some sort of work product would
24 have only very limited appeal among people who
25 already hate SeaWorld.
Page 66
1 My worry with Blackfish was that
2 it was so well made that the risk was that we
3 were -- it was just going to be viewed by a
4 lot more people, number one, and it would --
5 and it would take people who are either
6 SeaWorld supporters or ambivalent on these
'7 issues and turn them into people who really
8 don't want anything to do with us.
9 Q. And as 2013 progressed, do you
10 believe that you observed people who were
11 either SeaWorld supporters or ambivalent about
12 SeaWorld turning against SeaWorld because of
13 Blackfish?
14 A. Yeah.
15 MR.YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
16 THE WITNESS: Yes.
17 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
18 Q. And in what way did you see that?
19 A. Well --
20 MR. YOU] GWOOD: Objection to form.
21 THE WITNESS: -- you would see
22 it -- and I had to be very careful that I
23 wouldn't allow, you know,the -- the -- my
24 experience working as SeaWorld's head of
25 communications to sort of color my opinion on
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1. this, meaning that I was getting all ofthis
2 input, but there was this sample bias, because
3 the input that I'm getting is -- is always
4 negative.
5 So it was hard for me to judge
6 whether people out in the world were consumin
7 Blackfish, believing Blackfish and having
8 their opinion altered by Blackfish, because
9 all I was seeing was the tweets and the media
10 inquiries and all ofthis negative input. So
11 I had to continually remind myselfthat
12 there's a big world out there and -- and --
13 and -- and maybe Blackfish isn't going to have
14 that big ofan impact.
15 But there were a couple oftimes
16 in my -- you know,in my private life when I
17 saw that Blackfish was having an impact.
18 There was -- I was having lunch at a place
19 in -- near my home and I wasn't wearing
20 anything that would signify SeaWorld and I'm
21 -- I'm watching the bartender and a couple of
22 the -- the waiters and waitresses talking
23 about Blackfish and -- and I'm listening very
24 carefully to what they're saying. And I
25 thought well, this is -- this is -- you know,
Page 68
1 these are people who are in our neighborhood
2 and they have clearly been affected by what
3 they saw,and not in a way that's going to
4 help SeaWorld.
5 I also had, in church of all
6 places, people who had learned that I worked
7 at SeaWorld and the capacity that I worked --
8 that I worked in, and would become very
9 hostile to me.
10 So there -- you know,I -- I could
11 see, you know,the sort oftroubling influence
12 that Blackfish was having and outside the --
13 the realm ofjust animal rights activists.
14 BY MR.D'ANCONA.:
15 Q. When you mentioned in that answer
16 inputs that were coining to you, did those
17 include E-mails or letters from SeaWorld
18 guests?
19 A. Yes,although I can't -- I don't have
20 any specific recollection ofa guest, you
21 know,someone -- someone who had come and -
22 and -- and paid and enjoyed the -- presumably
23 enjoyed the experience and then saying, you
24 know what,I just saw Blackfish and now I'm
25 mad.
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1 So I don't recall anything -- you
2 know,I do,I do recall one person doing that.
3 And I said, well, okay,that's fair, but I
4 just need to tell you that Blackfish -- and I
5 agree with you,it's an emotional film, but if
6 we could just get you back,if we could just
7 get you back and we could maybe have you talk
8 with some of our trainers and keepers and
9 curators and veterinarians, maybe we could --
10 maybe we could convince you to still be a
11 SeaWorld fan.
12 And that worked. So that was an
13 offer I made a number of times. It was a very
14 powerful, sincere offer. If you don't like
15 what you saw in.Blackfish, please come,see
16 for yourself and — and then make a decision.
17 Q. So when you got E-mails or letters
18 from members ofthe public saying that they
19 had seen Blackfish and they -- they didn't
20 like SeaWorld, would you personally respond to
21 the senders?
22 A. Sometimes.
23 MR. YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
24 MR. D'ANCONA: Okay.
25 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
Page 70
1 Q. And do you recall any other instances
2 when you had personal interactions with the
3 senders of-- ofletters or E-mails in, let's
4 say, 2013, concerning Blackfish?
5 A. It wouldn't have been unusual at all
6 for it, because my name was so well known and
7 my E-mail was in such wide distribution for me
8 to get an E-mail, and sometimes they would be
9 easy to dismiss because they would abusive or
10 profane, and other times they would be kind
1 1 of, you know,just a very emotional plea, like
12 please help me understand this because I was
13 such a huge SeaWorld fan and I -- and I can't
14 do it anymore.
15 So it wouldn't be unusual at all
16 for me to respond to those E-mails and letters
17 myself.
18 Q. And when you responded to the senders
19 ofE-mails and letters that you received, did
/0 you -- did you see that at least some of them
21 were from people who were not necessarily
22 animal activists, butjust more mainstream
23 regular people?
24 A. I -- yes, that's fair.
25 Q. Okay.
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1 A. In fact, if somebody were to identify
2 themselves in an E-mail or — or letter as
3 being an animal rights activist, I would
4 probably dismiss it altogether because your
5 opinion is formed and it's hard and there's no
6 way that I'm going to be able to reach you, so
7 I'm not going to waste my time.
8 Q. Did you think that watching Blackfish
9 would make people less likely to come to
10 SeaWorld's Orca parks?
11 MR. YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
12 THE WITNESS: Yes.
13 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
14 Q. Do you recall ever discussing that
15 view with anybody else who worked at SeaWorld
16 in 2013?
17 MR.YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
18 THE WITNESS: I don't recall any
19 specific conversations, but I almost certainly
20 would have. I mean,you can't -- if' you watch
21 Blackfish, your opinion about SeaWorld changes
22 unless you came into it with a negative. That
23 was my view, that -- that if you're going
24 to -- if you watch this film and you have no
25 other input about SeaWorld, you are going to
Page 72
1 leave with a negative impression and -- and
2 I'm certain that I had conversations like that
3 with with others.
4 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
5 Q. So is it fair to say that you thought
6 that to the extent people saw Blackfish, it
7 would negatively affect public opinion about
8 SeaWorld?
9 MR. YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
10 THE WITNESS: Yes.
11 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
12 Q. Did you think Blackfish would harm
13 SeaWorld's reputation?
14 MR. YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
15 THE WITNESS: The only —
16 Blacklist'could only do one thing, and that
17 was damage SeaWorld's reputation. The
18 question wasn't whether it would or not, but
19 whether-- how much it would.
20 So it all really hinged on whether
21 Blackfish became popular, became a kind of
22 cultural phenomena, because so many
23 commercially-distributed documentaries come
24 and go without anybody ever seeing them.
25
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1 spring of 2013 and the early and mid-summer of
2 2013, major media outlets, such as the LA
3 Times or ABC News were — were running stories
4 4 on Blackfish?
5 5 A. Yes.
6 6 Q. Did the showing of Blackfish at film
7 7 festivals and its release in movie theaters in
8 8 July of 2013 and its coverage by mainstream
9 9 media in the spring and summer of 2013, did
10 10 that concern you --
11 11 MR. YOUNGWOOD: Objection.
12 12 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
13 13 Q. -- with respect.to your -- your
14 Q. But did you believe that if you saw 14 position at SeaWorld?
15 increasing awareness of Blackfish and 15 MR. YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
16 increasing association of Blackfish with 16 THE WITNESS: Yes.
17 SeaWorld,that that would correspond to,in 17 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
18 your mind,an it to SeaWorld's reputation? 18 Q. And why?
19 A. Yes. 19 A. So long as the -- the film has either
/0 Q. Did you -- do you recall whether you 20 kind of this very limited art house following,
21 reported back to anyone at SeaWorld's 21 you know, people who really like to go to art
22 corporate office from Sundance? 22 house cinemas and watch things like this,
23 A. Yes,I did. 23 and -- and frankly, a lot ofthose people
24 Q. Who did you report back to? 24 probably wouldn't be all that fond of SeaWorld
25 A. I wrote probably a 6, 700-word memo, 25 to begin with
Page 74 Page 76

I for lack of a better term, that I presented, So as long as it was confined to a

2 along with Chuck and Matt, to the -- I believe
3 it was called at the time the Strategy
4 Committee, which was senior leadership and
5 then typically one layer of management below
6 that. So it had 25 or 30 people, I guess.
7 Q. Okay. And we'll actually get to that
8 in a few minutes when we get into the
9 documents,I think.
10 Do you recall that Blackfish was
11 picked up for distribution by CNN Films and
12 Magnolia Pictures in January of 2013?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. And it showed at various film
15 festivals in the late winter and spring of
16 2013?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. The fihn was released in — in
19 landmark theaters in certain cities in July of
20 2013; do you remember that?
21 MR. YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
22 THE WITNESS: That's my
23 recollection.
24 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
25 Q. And do you remember that in the
Page 75
2 very limited distribution among people who
3 don't like SeaWorld to begin with,then that's
4 no real problem for us. It's a tree falling
5 in the woods.
6 But the media selves everybody,
7 the mainstream media serves everybody. So
8 you're either left with coverage that is
9 negative because the film,itself, is
10 negative, or you're left with coverage that
11 inspires people to see something they wouldn't
12 have otherwise seen.
13 So it was very concerning to me
14 the more the mainstream media were interested
15 in Black:fish, and that was certainly well
16 before it even premiered in -- in theaters.
17 Q. And then you recall that Blackfish
18 was shown multiple times on CNN in Oct -- in
19 October of2013?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. And it was released on DVD and on
22 iTunes and on Netflix thereafter?
23 A. Yes,although I don't recall the, you
24 know,the progression, what happened when.
25 Q. Did there come a time in 2013 when
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you believed that Blackfish had certainly bad
2 a negative effect on SeaWorld's reputation?
3 A. Well —
4 MR. YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
5 THE WITNESS: --
6 but my own
'7 instinct was telling me that it was affecting
8 the company's reputation, yeah.
9 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
10 Q. And did -- was it your view that the
11 company's reputation was an important driver
12 of attendance and revenues for SeaWorld?
13 MR. YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
14 THE WITNESS: The link between
15 reputation and sales, I caret say that I'm an
16 expert in that. I'm not sure anybody is an
17 expert in that.
18 You know,the reputation research
19 is complicated, it's highly sensitive to
20 variables in terms of, you know, that day's
21 media coverage. So for -- for -- to make
22 conclusions about the rep -- the impact of
23 reputation decay on your business is certainly
24 outside of my area of expertise.
25 My instinct was,though, that
Page 78
I significant reputation decay could only do one
2 thing, and that was damage the company's
3 business.
4 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
5 Q. Did you discuss with any colleagues
6 at SeaWorld in -- at any time in 2013 that
'7 you -- well, strike that.
8 Did you discuss with any
9 colleagues at SeaWorld in 2013 the proposition
10 that SeaWorld's reputation was being damaged
11 by Blackfish?
12 MR.YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
13 THE WITNESS: I don't recall any
14 specific conversations, but I'm -- I'm certain
15 that I had them.
16 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
17 Q. Do you recall any discussions with
18 colleagues at SeaWorld in 2013 that Blackfish
19 was hurting SeaWorld's business?
20 MR. YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
21 THE WITNESS: I don't recall any
22 specific conversations,but the -- you know,
23 the -- the impact on the business, you know,
24 there's multiple ways of looking at that.
25 What was it costing us in terms of staff
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1 resources? What was it. costing us in terms of
2 money to defend the company against it? The
3 reputation issue, which I mentioned is — is
4 difficult to quantify and difficult to
5 associate with performance, but is still a
6 significant impact on the business.
7 So yeah,there were a lot of ways
8 that Blackfish was affecting the business in
9 2013.
10 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
11 Q. To your knowledge, were -- were a lot
12 of staff resources being devoted to responding
13 to Blackfish?
14 MR. YOUNGWOOD: Objection I:o form.
15 THE WITNESS: Well,you'd have to
16 define "a lot," but certainly the way I define
17 it, yeah.
18 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
19 Q. Were you spending -- as a percentage
20 basis, how much of your day-to-day work was
21 being devoted to responding to -- to Blackfish
22 in 2013?
23 A. It -- it started -- it gained over
24 time,I guess is my point, so early in 2013,
25 it might be a portion of every day. By the
Page 80
1 end of201.4, it was every minute of every day.
2 Q. How about 2013?
3 A. I'm sorry, 2013. You know, by the
4 time that we were dealing with the -- the
5 artist cancellations for Bands,Brew & BBQ,it
6 was essentially all I was doing. And then
7 throughout the rest of my SeaWorld career, it
8 was essentially all I was doing.
9 Q. Were you aware of-- of other
10 SeaWorld staff who were devoting as much time
11 to responding to Blackfish as you were?
12 MR. YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
13 THE WITNESS: I don't know that
14 anyone was devoting as much time to it as I
15 was, but certainly anyone in the position of
16 authority in the company was — had demands
17 placed on their time and -- and ceitainly, you
18 know, whether it was our legal staff or our
19 marketing staff or those of us in Corporate
20 Affairs, it was a large and growing impact on
21 our time and all the way up M Mr. Atchison.
22 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
23 Q. And how about at the -- at the staff
24 level, the people who reported to you, were
25 they spending a significant portion oftheir
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1 time responding to Blackfish issues?
2 A. Well, yes, assisting me and Jill in
3 responding to Blackfish issues. We tried to
4 relieve -- we -- at the time, we had divided
5 our responsibilities in the folks who were
6 subordinate to me between marketing and, kind
7 of, issues, management or, you know,the --
8 the Corporate Affairs function, and we tried
9 to relieve them,as much as we could, so that
10 they could continue to try to, you know,grow
11 the business rather than, you know,than
12 defend it.
13 But there were times certainly
14 when it was all hands on deck
15 Q. And that was in 2013?
16 MR.YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
17 THE WITNESS: Toward the end of
18 2013. In the middle of2013, you know,there
19 were still plenty of gaps in your day where
20 maybe you could get some other things done.
21 And I don't want to say --you know,them
22 were other obligations that I had and if, you
23 know,if I had to write a speech for Jim
24 Atchison, I wrote it. So it wasn't, you know,
25 100 percent of every -- you know,every
Page 82
1 yeah.
2 I should say also that the — the
3 -- the film focuses on these issues, but it
4 also gave kind of a focal point, a gathering
5 place for people who wanted to -- to end what
SeaWorld does with killer whales. So them
7 was that whole dimension to it, also, that
8 this was essentially the --you know,a call
9 to arms for animal rights people.
10 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
11 Q. Animal rights people used.it as a --
12 as a weapon against SeaWorld?
13 A. That's right.
14 MR. YOUNGWOOD: Objection 1:0 form.
15 THE WITNESS: Well,as sort of
16 like a call to action, sort of.
17 MR.D'ANCONA: Yeah.
18 THE WITNESS: If you don't believe
19 us, watch the film.
20 MR.D'ANCONA: I see. Just a
21 couple more things and then I think we should
22 -- we should stop for a quick break.
23 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
24 Q. Shifting gears, SeaWorld announced a
25 capital project to expand its -- its whale
Page 84

1 moment,but it was the dominant,part of my... 1 tanks in August of 2014. Do you recall that?
2 BY MR.D'ANCONA: 2 A. Yes,I do.
3 Q. As far as a -- an issue that — that 3 Q. And — and it was announced that that
4 SeaWorld was responding to, was Blackfish 4 project would cost hundreds of millions of
5 the -- similar in terms of the amount of 5 dollars roughly. Do you remember that?
6 =sources it required as other prior activist 6 A. Yes,I do.
7 events, the books you mentioned, the movies 7
8 you mentioned, I believe, or was it different? 8
9 MR. YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form. 9
10 THE WITNESS: The only thing that 10
11 was even remotely similar to this was the Free 11
12 Willy films,primarily the first Free Willy 12
13 film, which was viewed,I think correctly, as 13
14 an assault on marine mammal captivity, 14
15 particularly killer whale captivity. So the 15
16 only thing that was ever close to this was 16
17 that, but I don't recall even that being as 17
18 intense at its peak as — as Blackfish was. 18
19 BY MR.D'ANCONA: 19
20 Q. So would it be inaccurate to say that 20
21 Blackfish wasjust more of the same,as far as 21
22 the demands placed on the company? 22
23 A. I would view that -- 23
24 MR. YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form. 24
25 THE WITNESS: -- as inaccurate, 25
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1 1, Q. In 2014,SeaWorld celebrated its 50th
2 anniversary celebration. Do you recall that?
3 3 A. Yes,I do.
4 4 Q. And the celebration was planned to
5 5 involve a tour of various cities, a kickoff
6 6 event in New York City and other celebratory
7 7 events.
8 8 Do you recall that?
9 9 A. Yes,I do.
10 10 Q. Do you recall that the kickoff event
11 11 in New York City was cancelled?
12 12 A. Yes.
13 13 Q. What do you recall about that?
14 14 A. The — when Blackfish was clearly
15 15 some -- a club that could be used against
16 16 SeaWorld,that became a very, very valuable
17 17 tactic for the animal rights community. And
18 18 what they would do is simply identify anyone
19 19 who had decided to do business with SeaWorld
/0 20 in any -- you know,whether we buy from you or
21 21 you buy from us, whether you wholesale
22 22 tickets, whether you host events, whether you
23 23 appear in our parks as an artist, all ofthose
24 24 people were subjected to harassment and -- and
25 25 Blackfish was the centerpiece of that.
Page 88

So when.it came to this event, my

2 recollection is that we had attempted to
3 3
4 4
$ 5
6 6
7 7
8 8
9 9
10 Q. Do you -- do you know -- in your 10
1 1 mind,do you associate moving forward with 11
12 the --the --the Blue World Project as -- as 12
13 a response to Blackfish? 13
14 A. It seemed to me that we were moving 14
15 forward with the Blue World Project because of 15
16 the -- the -- the very sort of toxic 16
17 atmosphere that was -- and Blackfish was part 17
18 of it, but it wasn't the only part by any 18
19 means. This is -- you know,this is a time 19
/0 of, you know,great controversy and criticism 20
21 ofSeaWorld and I think the -- the -- the 21
22 feeling was let's -- you know, we need to make 22
23 some dramatic moves here, and that was the -- 23
24 the centerpiece of it. That was my -- that's 24
25 my recollection, anyway. 25
Page 87
publicize it. And -- and as I recall, it
wasn't a -- like a general consumer thing, I
think we were inviting VIPs or travel partners
or something.
But anyway,the -- they had gotten
wind of it, the animal rights folks had gotten
wind of it and -- and started to harass the
owner of the restaurant. And for that person
and.frankly others, that's -- that's easy math
to do. It's like, you know,I can host this
event and subject myself to protests and
harassment, or I can.just cancel it and be
done with it. So I --we had a lot of people
making that decision.
Q. And to put a time frame on the the
harassment of of partners and vendors
and -- and sponsors, did that begin in 2013?
A. Yes.
Q. Did that begin in -- had that begun
by September of 2013?
MR.YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
THE WITNESS: I would say so.
MR.D'ANCONA: Okay.
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1 BY MR.D'ANCONA.: 1 Q. Other than the ways that you've

2 Q. And did it -- had it begun in the 2 mentioned, can you — can you tell me any
3 summer of 2013? Were you hearing about 3 other ways how the 50th anniversary
4 partners or sponsors getting Blackfish-related 4 celebration in 2014 was -- was impacted?
5 harassment in the summer of 2013? 5 MR.YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
6 A. I can't think of anything -- 6 THE WITNESS: Not beyond what I've
7 MR. YOU Objection to form. 7 told you, at least that 1 can recall.
8 THE WITNESS: -- anything 8 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
9 specific, but yeah, I think when it became a 9 Q. Do you recall discussing Blackfish's
10 really significant problem was when it was 10 impact on the 50th anniversary celebration in
11 clearly working with those artists for -- if 11 2014 with any SeaWorld colleagues?
12 you could reach those people and influence 12 A. I'm sure I did, but I don't recall
13 them to do something as dramatic as publicly 13 any specific ones.
14 separate from SeaWorld,then you could reach 14 Q. Okay.
15 anybody. 15 MR.D'ANCONA.: I think we should
16 BY MR.D'ANCONA: 16 take a short break.
17 Q. And you're talking about the band 17 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: Off the record
18 cancellations in November and December of 18 at 11:41. This will end Disk No. 1.
19 2013? 19 (Whereupon, a rec,ess was taken at
20 A. Yes. 20 the above time.)
21 Q. And thereafter? 21 (Whereupon, a document was marked,
22 A. That's right. 22 for identification purposes, as Jacobs Exhibit
23 Q. Okay. 23 1.)
24 How about the tour, the 50th 24 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: The time now is
25 anniversary celebration tour, do you recall 25 12:01, back on the record, beginning of Disk
Page 90 Page 92

1 that that was impacted by Blackfish.in any I. No. 2.

2 way? 2 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
3 MR.YOUNGWOOD: Objection to fonn. 3 Q. Welcome back, Mr. Jacobs. You
4 THE WITNESS: I recall it was 4 understand that you are still under oath?
5 impacted,though I don't recall specifically 5 A. Yes.
6 how. If I recollect correctly, wejust 6 Q. You've been handed a document marked
'7 cancelled it, eventually we just cancelled it 7 as Jacobs Exhibit No. 1. Do you see that,
8 because it was -- evely time we would have 8 sir?
9 people out in the world doing anything, they 9 A. Yes.
10 would face protesters and abuse and 10 Q. Do you recognize this document?
11 harassment. 11 A. Yes,I do.
12 And then so would the people that 12 Q. What is it?
13 we had chosen to partner with, whether it was 13
14 a school --you know,a lot of these 14
15 appearances, when. we go into markets, are in. 15
16 schools or a media outlet or a museum, another 16
17 zoological institution, maybe. They would all 17
18 be subjected to this harassment. 18
19 BY MR.D'ANCONA: 19
20 Q. At the bottom line, is it your 20
21 opinion that SeaWorld's 50th anniversary 21
22 celebration was impacted by Blackfish? 22
23 MR. YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form. 23
24 THE WITNESS: Yes. 24
25 BY MR.D'ANCONA: 25 Q. And consistent with what you Just
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1 said, you -- you presented some discussion of 1
2 these notes at the Strategy Committee meeting 2
3 at SeaWorld in January of2013? 3
4 A. And my recollection is that I spoke 4
5 from them and then I likely gave this document 5
6 to the participants ofthe -- the meeting. 6
7 Q. And what is the Strategy Committee? 7
8 A. The Strategy Committee was a -- the 8
9 group of executives ofthe two highest levels 9
10 in the corporation,so the -- the officers of 10
1 1 the corporation, and generally speaking, 11
12 the -- the -- the people who answered to 12
13 the -- to the officers ofthe corporation. So 13
14 down to the level of VP typically. 14
15 Q. Were you a Strategy Committee member 15
16 in 2013? 16
17 A. In 2013,I was not. 17
18 Q. Okay. 18
19 Were you in 2014? 19
/0 A. No, no. 20
21 Q. Okay. 21
22 A. I was briefly a member ofthe 22
23 Strategy Committee when I answered to Jim 23
24 Atchison in 2008-2009. 24
25 25
Page 94 Page 96

1 1
2 2
3 3
4 Q. Read that over and let me know when 4
5 you've done so. 5
6 (Whereupon,the witness reviews 6
7 the exhibit.) 7
8 THE WITNESS: I've read it. 8
9 BY MR. D'ANCONA: 9
10 10
11 11
12 12
13 13
14 14
15 15
16 16
17 17
18 18
19 19
20 20
21 21
22 22
23 23
24 24
25 25
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1 1 Q. Including national news and
2 2 entertainment programs?
3 3 MR.YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
4 THE WITNESS: Yes. Yes.
5 5 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
6 6 Q. And did you see a real impact to
7 SeaWorld from that attention to the film from
8 8 mainstream media?
9 9 MR.YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
10 10 THE WITNESS: Yeah, and I should
11 11 say that the -- you know,the impact takes
12 12 many forms, as I mentioned earlier. You know,
13 13 they -- they -- the most obvious in media, it
14 14 was staff resources. So between my group and
15 15 the legal group and the public affairs and
16 16 government regions group, you know,this
17 17 was -- when it hit, it already had an impact
18 18 because I had to fly to Utah to watch it and
19 19 then, you know,spend time that I could have
20 20 spent doing other things, analyzing it and
21 21 preparing for it. So -- so there was an
22 22 impact immediately.
23 BY MR.D'ANCONA: 23 It was not significant at that
24 Q. Do you recall any discussion of the 24 point, but my fear was that it would become
25 points you just made in your prior answer at 25 significant
Page 98 Page 100

1 the Strategy Committee meeting -- 1 BY MR.D'ANCONA:

1 MR.YOUNGWOOD: Objection.
3 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
4 Q. -- in January 2013?
5 MR. YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
6 THE WITNESS: The only discussion
7 that I recall was that a lot of people in the
8 room seemed very disappointed in what I was
9 saying. In fact, I can recall Jim Atchison
10 saying, you know,sort of sarcastically, like,
11 geez, thanks, Fred,or something like that,
12 that would.suggest nobody really wanted to
13 hear what I was saying. I mean,they wanted
14 to hear it, obviously it was an important
15 matter, but they wanted to hear a different
16 conclusion.
17 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
18 Q. Do you recall any other discussion
19 about Blackfish at this Strategy Committee
20 meeting?
21 A. No,I don't.
22 Q. And after January of 2013, did you
23 see mainstream media take an interest in the
24 film?
25 A. Yes.
Page 99
2 Q. And — and did it become significant?
3 A. Yeah.
4 MR. YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
5 THE WITNESS: Yes.
6 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
7 Q. And did it become significant by July
8 of 2013?
9 MR. YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
10 THE WITNESS: I would say so,
11 yeah.
12 MR. D'ANCONA: Okay.
13 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
14 Q. And did it remain -- did the staff
15 resources devoted to responding to Blackfish
16 remain significant,in your view, after July
17 of 2013 and through August of 2014, at least?
18 MR. YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
19 THE WITNESS: Yeah, and I should
20 say that when -- when you asked me whether the
21 film had an impact, I include in that things
22 that cascaded from the film. So media
23 coverage, social media activity, protests.
24 Anything that -- that seemed to me to be
25 directly attributable to the film, rd lump
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1 into that category.
2 MR.D'ANCONA: I understand.
3 Okay. Thank you. You can set that document
4 aside.
5 (Whereupon,a document was marked,
6 for identification purposes, as Jacobs Exhibit
7 2.)
8 MR.D'ANCONA: Jacobs Exhibit No.
9 2 has been placed before you. Please take a
10 minute to read through it.
11 THE WITNESS: I have.
12 MR.D'ANCONA: Okay.
13 BY MR. D'ANCONA:
14 Q. This is an E-mail from an E-mail
15 address SWO-PR. Do you recognize that E-mai
16 address?
17 A. Yes,I do.
18 Q. And what is it?
19 A. That is the -- the general E-mail
20 account for the PR department at SeaWorld in
21 Orlando.
22 Q. And it's an E-mail dated April 8th,
23 2013,to you. Do you see that, sir?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. And the subject is forward:
Page 102
1 Blackfish reference. The -- it appears the PR
2 department at SeaWorld Orlando has forwarded
3 to you a message related to Blackfish; is that
4 fair?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. Where -- and this is a message from a
7 sender named arid it -- and
8 it's dated April 6, 2013,down below.
9 Do you see that?
10 A. Yes,I do.
1 1 Q. Was there -- would you ordinarily
12 receive E-mails or letters from members ofthe
13 public that were sent to SeaWorld regarding
14 Blackfish in 2013?
15 A. It's my recollection that we had
16 instructed the SeaWorld parks to send anything
17 Blackfish related to me rather than deal with
18 it themselves.
19 Q. And why?
/0 A. Well, Blackfish was a significant
21 matter and it -- if-- if-- in this case,
22 it's Dagmar who was the administrative
23 assistant at -- for the PR department and the
24 communications department. And given the
25 significance of Blackfish, we really didn't
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want to risk anyone, you know,commenting on,
2 you know,sort offreelancing these responses
3 to people like this because ofthe -- the risk
4 that they might,first of all, say something
5 wrong, or that their response might become
6 public.
7 Q. Do you ordinarily respond to letters
8 or E-mails that you received concerning
9 Black-fish from members ofthe public?
10 A. As I mentioned earlier, ifone was
11 clearly beyond my ability to -- to reach them,
12 that is somebody who was passionately
13 anti-SeaWorld or abusive or threatening, I
14 would just ignore it. Or in some cases,send
15 it to our operations team because they had a
16 security provision for things like that.
17 But if it was somebody like this
18 who is -- you know,this is a letter written
19 in good faith expressing genuine reservations
20 with SeaWorld based on what she saw in
21 Blackfish, this is the kind ofthing that I
22 would conceivably respond to myself
23 Q. Do you know if you responded to this
24 sender?
25 A. I don't recall responding to her.
Page 104
1 Q. How would you differentiate between a
2 letter sent in good faith versus a letter sent
3 from a a hardened activist who you wouldn't
4 try to reach?
5 A. Well, the --
6 MR.YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
7 THE WITNESS: There are -- they'll
8 give you clues, you know. They -- if you can
9 sort of tease out the general talking points
10 from the animal rights community about
11 longevity or about, you know, the stereotypic
12 behavior, anything that would sort of signal
13 that these are talking points from a -- you
14 know,from one of our opponents in the animal
15 rights community, that was typically a clue.
16 But they you know,in order to
17 do it this way,they would have to lie. They
18 would have to say, you know what,I visited
19 SeaWorld and I enjoyed the experience, but
20 then I saw Blackfish.
21 You know,the -- the animal rights
22 ones were usually pretty easy to -- to sniff
23 out.
24 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
25 Q. Did you -- do you recall whether you
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CONFIDENTIAL
1 confirmed that she had, in fact, come with her
2 family?
3 A. That's very difficult to do.
4 Q. Okay.
5 A. So Pm almost certain that I did not.
6 Q. Okay.
'7 Do you recall whether in -- in,
8 say, the first half of 2013, you -- you
9 received other E-mails and letters from
10 members of the public conveying that the
11 sender had seen Blackfish and -- and would not
12 come to SeaWorld?
13 A. I don't recall any specifically.
14 Q. Do you recall that generally letters
15 like that started to come in after Blackfish
16 was released?
17 A. Yeah.
18 Q. Do you recall an approximate volume
19 of letters or E-mails like that that you had
20 received in, say, the first half of 2013
21 before the theoretical release?
22 A. I--
23 MR. YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
24 THE WITNESS: It would be a -- it
25 would be a guess.
Page 106
1 100 people who didn't write me who just went
2 off and lived their lives with a hardened
3 opinion against SeaWorld.
4 Q. So did you view letters from
5 consumers to the effect of I saw Blackfish and
6 I -- I won't be coming to SeaWorld as a — as
7 a meaningful indicator of-- of public
8 sentiment or consumer sentiment towards
9 SeaWorld?
10 MR.YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
11 THE WITNESS: I don't know that I
12 could draw any conclusions about ifthis was
13 representative of broad or even narrow public
14 opinion. All I know is that this one person
15 and -- and it would be reasonable to conclude
16 that that for every one,there's more out
17 there, but whether that rises to the level of,
18 you know,sort ofthis cultural influence. I
19 -- I couldn't say.
20 MR.D'ANCONA: You can set that
21 document aside.
22 (Whereupon, a document was marked,
23 for identification purposes, as Jacobs Exhibit
24 3.)
25 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
Page 108

1 MR.D'ANCONA: Okay. 1.
THE WITNESS: And certainly it 2
3 would -- it was my recollection it would track 3
4 overall U.S. awareness of the film. 4
5 MR.D'ANCONA: I see. 5
6 BY MR.D'ANCONA: 6
7 Q. Did you take -- leaving aside letters 7
8 from -- that you identified as coming from 8
9 activists, did you take letters from -- from 9
10 people who said that they had seen Blackfish 10
1 1 and -- and would not be coming to SeaWorld 11
12 after seeing it, did you take letters like 12
13 that seriously? 13
14 A. Oh, yeah. 14
15 Q. Why? 15
16 A. Well, because the --the -- the -- 16
17 the threat to SeaWorld's business does not 17
18 come in the form of people who hate SeaWorld 18
19 already; the threat comes in the form of 19
/0 people who are either ambivalent or supportive 20
21 ofSeaWorld, but had their minds changed by 21
22 Blackfish. 22
23 So if-- and the way I always 23
24 looked at it was this person went to the 24
25 trouble to wiite me. My worry is about the 25
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1 And then you combine that with the

2 fact that at least some ofthem appeared to me
3 3 to be genuinely contrite about what they did
4 4 at SeaWorld. So that makes this
5 5 extraordinarily difficult from my perspective.
6 6 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
7 7 Q. Blackfish was difficult to rebut?
8 8 A. It was --
9 9 MR.YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
10 10 THE WITNESS: It was difficult to
11 11 rebut, and we had gone to some lengths to --
12 12 to analyze the film frame by frame, so some
13 13 fine work that had been done cataloguing every
14 14 inconsistency, everything in it that's
15 15 misleading, every error in fact, everything in
16 16 it, scrupulously cited, and that document
17 17 exists to this day. And so they -- you know,
18 18 you're looking at, you know,I think it's 69
19 19 or 70 things that -- that we found wrong with
/0 20 the film.
21 21 But my position at the time was if
22 22 it's not on that list, then it must be fight,
23 23 and that's what we have to deal with, that's
24 24 what we have to focus on. So that was my
25 MR.D'ANCONA: You can set that 25 concern then.
Page 110 Page 112

1 document aside. 1 And again, the -- the people in

2 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
3 Q. What was it that made Blackfish so
4 complicated and difficult, to use your words?
5 MR. YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
6 THE WITNESS: There was a couple
'7 of reasons. The first is the film was well
8 made,so it was -- it was impossible to
9 dismiss on creative grounds.
10 But the most difficult part was
11 the authority of the people who are in it.
12 You've got, I forget how many,six or seven
13 people who were not only SeaWorld employees,
14 but SeaWorld employees ofa-- ofa very
15 exclusive fraternity.,and that was the men and
16 women who were in-water killer whale trainers.
17 That, you know,there — there can't be more
18 than a few hundred people in the world who can
19 claim that.
20 So to have them -- because they
21 can speak from personal experience and with
22 personal authority about what went on during
/3 their time. They're also -- they're trained
/4 to present to the public, so they're very --
25 rhetorically, they're very,very effective.
Page 111
2 it, Jeff Ventre and Jolm Jett, you know,all
3 of those trainers, in-water trainers, some of
4 the most experienced in the -- and John
5 Hargrove -- you know,in the country, they
6 know so much,and even if you could dismiss
7 them all as, you know,disgruntled former
8 employees with an axe to grind, you know,
9 you're still left with people offering
10 insights on their experiences at SeaWorld and
11 they -- they're standing behind them. So that
12 -- that made it very difficult from my
13 perspective.
14 (Whereupon, a document was marked,
15 for identification.purposes, as Jacobs Exhibit
16 4.)
17 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
18 Q. So you've been handed what's been
19 marked as Jacobs Exhibit No. 4. Before we get
20 into this document,just a couple questions.
21 I believe you -- you mentioned
22 this miter,but do you -- do you recall that
23 Blackfish was being covered by mainstream
24 media including the show Nightline, ABC World
25 News with Diane Sawyer,in June of 2013?
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1 MR.YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
2 THE WITNESS: I don't specifically 2
3 recall those media outlets, but I know that 3
4 there was media attention, and the -- the 4
5 document certainly suggests that that was 5
6 something we were dealing with. 6
7 MR.D'ANCONA: Okay. 7
8 BY MR.D'ANCONA: 8
9 Q. So looking at the document,it's a -- 9
10 it's a June 26, 2013, E-mail from Tony Taylor 10
11 to a group of individuals, including yourself 11
12 Do you.see that, sir? 12
13 A. Yes. 13
14 14
15 15
16 16
17 17
18 18
19 19
20 20
21 21
22 22
23 23
24 24
25 25
Page 114 Page 116

1
2
3 3
4 4
5
6 6 Q. thd you anticipate ier media
7 7 attention to Blackfish as it was released in
8 8 theaters?
9 9 A. Yes.
10 10 Q. Did you anticipate further media
11 11 attention to Blackfish as it was shown on CNN?
12 12 A. We -- I -- I frankly kind. of
13 13 dismissed the prospect ofthe CNN airings
14 14 because CNN had such poor ratings. I couldn't
15 15 imagine that their brand new documentary
16 16 division would be any different.
17 17 I didn't anticipate, I don't think
18 18 anybody anticipated what they did. The
19 19 lengths that they went to to promote the film
20 20 with their news division and then their
21 21 obsessive airing of it, hundreds oftimes they
22 22 aired that film. I don't think -- I didn't
23 23 anticipate that, I don't think anybody else
24 24 anticipated it either.
25 25 Q. When did. you recognize that CNN's
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1 heavy promotion ofthe film was going to be
2 greater than you'd expect?
3 A. Well,I think as soon as they really
4 started to -- to -- you know,they were
5 dispatching crews across, you know, all of
6 their news programming. I found that deeply
7 offensive as a, you know, as a former
8 journalist. I thought it was an enormous
9 breach ofethics and said so at every
10 opportunity. And they didn't care, obviously,
1 1 and I don't think anybody else cared either.
12 The fact that they were -- they
13 had a financial interest in this film and that
14 they were using the news division, which is
15 supposed to be objective and fair-minded to
16 promote it, I thought was outrageous. But
17 even I was really surprised at the -- at
18 the -- at the amount of-- ofcoverage that
19 they were devoting. I think we had done some
/0 analysis later that, you know,they -- they
21 were covering it six, seven times more than
22 their competitors. To me,that wasjust
23 outrageous.
24
25
age 1
1 referctx:es to Blackfish, what would -- what
2 would your takeaway be from that?
3 A. Well,that something had occurred
4 to — to in --
5 MR.YOUNGWOOD: Object to form.
THE WITNESS: -- excuse me,to
7 increase the -- so yeah, so there might be --
8 you know, there -- there might be a
9 letter-writing campaign for PETA or something,
10 which would inspire social media activity that
11 we would see in our monitoring.
12 Clearly any mainstream media
13 coverage I would know about because they would.
14 have reached out to us. It was very unusual
15 to have anyone in the media cover this
16 story -- there were exceptions, but vet),
17 unusual for them to cover this stoly without
18 reaching out to us. A lot ofthe reviewers
19 never bothered to -- to contact us. In fact,
20 virtually none contacted us.
21 But other than that, we would know
22 in advance if there was going to be a story in
23 the paper or on TV about it. But it was the
24 other things, the social things that were --
25 you know,that we needed to track to sort of
Page 120

1 understand what the -- you know, what the

2 tenor of the debate was.
3 3 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
4 4
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25 Q. And if you saw an increase in 25 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
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/0 20 Q. The cover E-mail from Mr. Taylor
21 21 references PulsePoint Group. Do you see that?
22 22 A. Yes,1 do.
23 23 Q. What was PulsePoint Group's role with
24 24 respect to SeaWorld's Blackfish response in
25 25 2013?
IF 46, 1,44 Page 124

1 1 A. Well, PulsePoint Group, right around

2 this time, or presumably right before this
3 3 time, had been hired to lead the campaign
4 4 against Blackfish. They had hired or -- or
5 5 subcontracted a portion ofthe plan to 42
6 6 West, which is a -- a communications firm that
7 7 specializes in, you know,Hollywood film
8 8 publicity. So I think -- I think Bob's -- Bob
9 9 Feldman's instinct was that that kind of
10 10 expertise could be useful, but the -- the, you
11 11 know,42 West is -- excuse me,PulsePoint
12 12 Group was the company that -- the firm that
13 13 the company decided to -- to take us through
14 14 this.
15 15 Q. Had you worked with PulsePoint Group
16 16 with respect to The Cove film?
17 17 A. I don't think so, no.
18 18 Q. Had you worked with PulsePoint Group
19 19 with respect to any ofthe other films or
20 20 books that came out about -- about the death
21 21 of Miss Brancheau?
22 22 A. I don't recall ever working -- the --
23 23 working with PulsePoint Group before this,and
24 24 then certainly I -- I think I would recall
25 25 that. But they were hired as the result of
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1 the — ofa process that began, you know,
2 several months earlier, and that was at the
3 direction of Jim Atchison, who I believe was
4 operating under the direction ofthe board of
5 directors, that SeaWorld needed to have a
6 communications agency, notjust for Blackfish,
7 but for, you know,any issues that might --
8 that might come up that would require, you
9 know,good crisis management instinct.
10 So we had gone through a pretty
1 1 lengthy process ofidentifying candidate
12 agencies, and PulsePoint Group was one of
13 them. They were one on my list, actually. So
14 how we went from that process to actually
15 contracting with them is — some ofthat is a
16 bit ofa mystery to me,but...
17 Q. Had you worked with communication
18 agencies around crisis management matters with
19 respect to any ofthe prior books or movies
/0 that you mentioned related to the death of
21 Miss Brancheau?
22 A. You know,it's possible that we had
23 some boutique agencies that helped us with
24 kind oftactical matters. We didn't have a,
25 kind of an agency of record.that I -- you
Page 126
my view that -- that unless you want to retain
2 an agency on the scale that we used to retain
3 Fleishman Hillard,that it was essentially
4 useless. It would just take so much of my
5 time to bring them up to speed and let them --
6 make them understand what the issues are and
7 the culture. So it wasjust pointless, as far
8 as I was concerned.
9 But the -- but Jim insisted that
10 --that we get an agency, and itjust happened
11 to coincide with Blackfish; that is the -- the
12 -- the idea that we needed.to have an agency
13 ofrecord. predated Blackfish. But we -- since
14 we had done all the work to — to write the
15 RFP and all that stuff, PulsePoint seemed like
16 a good choice.
17 MR. D'ANCONA: Okay. Thank you.
18 You can set that document aside.
19 Full that document back out,
20 Exhibit No. 4, please.
21 BY MR. D'ANCONA:
22
23
24
25
Page 128

1 know,I would certainly recall. So we didn't

2 have, you know,somebody on retainer that you 2
3 would — like an Edehnan or something that you 3
4 would call up. 4
5 Q. Was the -- was the -- were there more 5
6 consultants involved in assisting SeaWorld 6
7 with its Blackfish response than had been 7
8 involved in assisting SeaWorld to respond to a 8
9 prior PR crisis? 9
10 A. The -- yes, with one exception. The 10
11 -- the -- like the death of Dawn Brancheau, we 11
12 had a lot of consultant assistance that was 12
13 given to us by Blackstone, so we had 13
14 attorneys, we had pUblic affairs experts, we 14
15 had communications experts, we had the 15
16 Blackstone communications team all assisting 16
17 us during that early phase. 17
18 But as we — as the dust sort of 18
19 settled on that crisis, you know, other things 19
20 would pop up; campaigns against us from animal 20
21 rights organizations, the — you know,the 21
22 repeated OSHA trouble that we,you know,found 22
/3 ourselves in, which would be very newsworthy 23
24 for a time. 24
25 But it was never-- it was always 25
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1 Q. Okay.
2 In the first line you wrote
3 3 actually, back up. Who is Miss Repass?
4 4 A. Kelly, at the time, was the director
5 5 of research for the company.
6 6 Q. Okay.
7 7 And you wrote to Ms. Repass,"I
8 8 know you've been in touch with our Blackfish
9 9 consultants." Who did you mean by "our
10 10 Blackfish consultants"?
11 11 A. I can't say for certain, but it's
12 12 likely PulsePoint and perhaps Larry Iser who
13 13 was one of our legal advisors.
14 14 Q. So did you consider PulsePoint a
15 15 Blacklish consultant?
16 16 A. Yes.
17 17 Q. You go on to say,"It occurs to me
18 18 that it would be useful to know more about
19 19 national awareness of the film."
/0 20 Why did you want to know more
21 21 about national awareness of the film in July
22 22 of 2013?
23 23 MR.YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
24 24 THE WITNESS: Because without --
25 25 if you didn't have that understanding, that
rage jij Page 132

I how big a cultural phenomenon Blackfish was,

2 you -- you risk making some very poor
3 3 decisions.
4 Now,I was particularly at risk,
5 5 because as I mentioned earlier, all I got was
6 MR.D'ANCONA: Okay. Now you can 6 these negative inputs all day every day. So
7 set that document aside. 7 for me,it was useful to know how many people
8 (Whereupon, a document was marked, 8 really do know about this movie. And ifthat
9 for identification purposes, as Jacobs Exhibit 9 number is really small,then we need to -- we
10 5.) 10 need to respond appropriately. Ifthat number
11 MR.. D'ANCONA: Sir, Jacobs Exhibit 11 is huge,that's a completely different path.
12 No.5 has been placed. before you. Please read 12 that we have to take.
13 it over. 13 So before we started making a lot
14 (Whereupon,the witness reviews 14 of vely, very costly decisions, I just felt
15 the exhibit.) 15 like we needed to know What the real threat
16 MR.D'ANCONA: For the record, 16 was.
17 this is an E-mail from Mr. Jacobs sent 17 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
18 July 11th, 2013,to Kelly Repass. The Subject 18 Q. At the bottom ofthe E-mail you say,
19 line is survey. 19 "I just spoke with Tony and he agrees." Do
/0 THE WITNESS: I've read it. 20 you see that?
21 MR.D'ANCONA: Okay. 21 A. Yes,I do.
22 BY MR.D'ANCONA: 22 Q. Do you recall discussing with --
23 Q. And you sent this E-mail; correct, 23 strike that.
24 sir? 24 Is that Tony Taylor?
25 A. Yes,I did. 25 A. Yes,it is.
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1 Q. Do you recall discussing with Mr.
2 Taylor the proposition ofdoing a survey
3 concerning national awareness of Blackfish in
4 July of 2013?
5 A. Yes,I do.
6 Q. What do you recall discussing with
7 Mr. Taylor?
8 A. Well, because -- let me back up.
9 PulsePoint Group had a connection that was
10 unknown to me before -- before I started the
1 1 search,the recruitment for this agency.
12 And -- and that seemed.to be an issue as we
13 moved forward. And what I mean by that is
14 I -- I sought out PulsePoint Group based
15 solely on what I had — the research I had
16 done on their expertise, their crisis work,
17 their work with issues similar to this. So
18 that's why they were on my list and that's why
19 I reached out to Bob with kind ofa summary
/0 document explaining what we were prepared to
21 spend and what we wanted to accomplish.
22 Q. That's Bob Feldman?
23 A. Bob Feldman, yes.
24 Q. And he's PulsePoint?
25 A. That's right.
Page 134
1 of those things were given to us, that
2 direction was given to us by Jim, and I was
3 simply following those directions really to
4 the letter.
5 So the idea that we would dangle
6 in front of somebody an enormous, you know,
7 retainer, that was contrary to Jim's
8 direction.
9 I didn't think too much about it
10 after that, but we never completed the -- the
11 process of recruiting. Not long after the
12 process had begun, we simply hired PulsePoint
13 Gmup.
14 Q. So how did that bear upon your
15 thinking on.or what you discussed with Mr.
16 Taylor about running surveys to know more
17 about national awareness ofthe film in July?
18 A. Well, given the relationship of Bob
19 with David D'Alessandro, I was uncertain of my
20 own authority, either as a tactical matter or
21 as a strategic matter. And if the decision on
22 who we were going to work with was being made
23 at that level, then maybe I don't have the
24 authority to do what I think is transparently
25 a good idea, and that is to start gauging
Page 136

1Q. Okay. 1 public awareness.

A. And it was my understanding that at 2 So I went to Tony and he says,
3 that point, Bob reached out to David 3 don't be ridiculous, it's a good idea, let's
4 D'Alessandro, who was our chairman ofthe 4 do it. And -- and he reminded me that I was
5 board, because they were classmates at, I 5 the head ofcommunications for SeaWorld
6 think it was Cornell, and I had -- so that Entertainment and -- and, you know,that comes
7 conversation obviously occurred without me 7 with a certain amount of authority.
8 being present. 8 So I was -- I appreciated that
9 But apparently -- and I know this 9 very much because I wasn't now in the service
10 because either -- it was either Tony or Jim 10 of PulsePoint Group.
1 1 had conveyed,to me that David.thought that our 11 Q. I see.
12 approach in the RFP was all wrong. He said 12 A. PulsePoint was in the service of
13 that it -- that it -- that we weren't likely 13 SeaWorld.
14 to get anybody interested in representing us 14
15 because the -- the -- you know,the scale of 15
16 the retainer was too low,the -- the focus of 16
17 the work was too narrow, and he felt we were 17
18 out of line by -- by doing that, by -- by 18
19 recruiting agencies in that way. 19
/0 And I said look, this -- we are 20
21 recruiting agencies based on the exact 21
22 criteria given to us by Jim Atchison. It's 22
23 that simple. Every word in it, you know,the 23
24 focusing on mid to small agencies, a retained 24
25 relationship ofa modest amount of money,all 25
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1
2
3 3
4 4
5 5
6 6
7 7
8 8
9 9
10 10
11 11
12 12 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
13 13 Q. Are you aware of an association in
14 14 the United Kingdom called the Scout
15 15 Association?
16 16 A. I believe that's a variant of the Boy
17 17 Scouts of America,or their version of the Boy
18 18 Scouts.
19 19 (Whereupon, a document was marked,
/0 20 for identification purposes, as Jacobs Exhibit
21 21 10.)
22 22 MR.D'ANCONA: For the record,
23 23 Jacobs Exhibit No. 10 has been passed to the
24 24 witness. It's an E-mail from Neil Foster on
25 25 August 6, 2013,to Fred Jacobs and others.
Page 158 Page 160

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/0 20 about impacts of-- of Blackfish on tour
21 21 operators actually getting people to come to
22 22 SeaWorld after August of 2013?
23 23 A. Yes. It was always -- you know,
24 24 there was always the potential issue that
25 25 something like this would affect our -- our
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I to cut it offin October -- or excuse me,in 1

2 August. 2
3 3
4 4
5 5
6 6 Q. In your mind,if someone intended to
7 see the movie, was that -- did you view that
8 8 as -- as bad news for SeaWorld?
9 9 A. Yeah.
10 10 Q. Okay.
11 11 Do you recall what you. made of the
12 12 fact that the national awareness level went
13 13 from 5.2 percent the prior week to 7.9 percent
14 14 in -- in. week five?
15 15 A. I don't recall.
16 16 Q. Okay. That's a large growth in
17 17 awareness over one week; would you agree with
18 18 that?
19 19 A. I would.
20 20 Q. At the time of this E-mail, did you
21 21 believe that increasing awareness and an
22 22 intent to see Blackfish was injuring
23 23 SeaWorld's reputation?
'
74 24 MR.YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
25 25 THE WITNESS: Would you repeat the
Page 174 Page 176

1 question?
2 MR.D'ANCONA: Sure.
3 3 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
4 4 Q. At the time of this E-mail when you
5 5 had these study results, August 20th, 2013,
6 6 did you believe that growing national
7 7 awareness of Blackfish and intent to see the
8 8 film was hurting SeaWorld's reputation?
9 9 MR.YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
10 10 THE WITNESS: Yes. Just a
11 11 question of how much.
12 12 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
13 13 Q. Do you know of any analysis that had.
14 14 been done by August 20th, or around
15 15 August 20th, 2013,to determine whether this
16 16 increasing awareness of Blackfish seen in the
17 17 survey data could be linked to an attendance
18 18 impact at SeaWorld parks from people hearing
19 19 or seeing both?
20 20 Mk YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
21 21 THE WITNESS: Yeah,I don't know
22 22 if that research had been commissioned or even
23 23 contemplated.
24 24 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
25 25 Q. Aside from whether it was done or
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1 not, do you recall any discussions about the 1 THE WITNESS: Yes. And die
2 potential for research or the need to do 2 corporate marketing and sales teams.
3 research along those lines to -- to try to 3 MR. D'ANCONA: Okay.
4 connect information in the data that you had 4 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
5 about awareness ofthe film and intent -- 5 Q. Did you have any -- well, strike
6 intent to see the film and to connect that 6 that.
7 with potential attendance impact or business 7
8 impact on SeaWorld? 8
9 MR.YOUNGWOOD: Object to the 9
10 form. 10
11 THE WITNESS: Not that I recall, 11
12 but you would, you know,look for a leading 12
13 indicator. You know, you've got attendance 13
14 softness someplace that you hadn't 14
15 anticipated. You know,the — you start to 15
16 look for reasons why. But in the, you know, 16
17 the theme park business, it's very, very 17
18 difficult to determine why somebody didn't 18
19 come. So to tie anything to attendance, you 19
/0 know,is a-- sort of an exercise in theory, 20
21 opinion in a lot ofcases. It's -- 21
22 BY MR.D'ANCONA: 22
23 Q. Are you -- I'm sorry,I didn't mean 23
24 to cut you off. 24
25 A. No,no. And I'm kind ofgetting out 25
Page 178 Page 180

1 of my sphere here, you know. That was sort of 1

2 a marketing/sales thing. 2
3 Q. It was a — it was a 3
4 marketing/sales -- it was in the 4
5 marketing/sales domain to analyze and 5
6 determine reasons why people were not coming 6
7 to the park? 7
8 A. Yeah. 8
9 MR. YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form. 9
10 BY MR.D'ANCONA: 10
11 Q. And is that -- was that true in your 11
12 experience at -- at SeaWorld? Was the 12
13 marketing and sales teams, it was within their 13
14 -- the ambit of their responsibilities to 14
15 explain reasons for why people were not coming 15
16 to SeaWorld parks? 16 MR. D'ANCONA: Okay. Okay. You
17 MR.YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form. 17 can set that document aside.
18 THE WITNESS: Yes. 18 (Whereupon, a document was marked,
19 MR. D'ANCONA: Okay. 19 for identification purposes, as Jacobs Exhibit
20 BY MR.D'ANCONA: 20 13.)
21 Q. And would those be the marketing and 21 MR.D'ANCONA: Jacobs Exhibit No.
22 sales people that you referenced in your prior 22 13 is an E-mail from Mr. Jacobs on
/3 answer, would those be the marketing and sales 23 August 28th, 2013,to Darla Morse,"Subject:
24 people at the particular parks? 24 Re:(BN)SeaWorld Slashes Park Prices Amid
25 MR. YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form. 25 Attendance Drop, Orca Critique."
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1 BY MR.D'ANCONA: 1 A. That is in -- that is I could
2 Q. Do you. see that, sir? 2 attribute -- let me — let me clarify this.
3 A. Yes. 3 Q. Yeah, explain.
4 Q. Have you had a chance to look over 4 A. For this statement to be true, not a
5 this E-mail? 5 single person who was contemplating a visit to
6 A. Yes. 6 SeaWorld and changed their mind because of
7 Q. Okay. 7 Blackfish came. That -- so the statement is
8 You sent this E-mail to Darla 8 unequivocal and I just can't conceive that it
9 Morse; correct? 9 isn't --you know,that there wasn't at least
10 A. Yes. 10 one person out there who changed their mind
1 1 Q. Okay. 11 about visiting SeaWorld because of Blackfish.
12 And your E-mail at the bottom 12 Q. When you made your statement, did you
13 contains a copy of an August 28th, 2013, 13 know whether it was -- you did not know
14 article that appeared in Bloomberg authored by 14 whether it was true or not; is that fair?
15 Christopher Palmeri. Do you see that? 15 MR. YOUNGWOOD: Objection 1:0 form.
16 A. Yes,I do. 16 THE WITNESS: I didn't believe it
17 Q. Is this the Bloomberg reporter who 17 to be true.
18 you referenced in your testimony earlier this 18 MR.D'ANCONA: Okay.
19 morning? 19 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
/0 A. Yes. 20 Q. In the E-mail at the top of this
21 Q. Okay. 21 thread from yourself to Darla Morse --
22 The article generally addresses an 22 A. Um-limm.
23 attendance drop at SeaWorld in 2013; is that 23 Q. -- I draw your attention to that.
24 fair? 24 Who is Darla Morse?
25 A. Yes. 25 A. Darla was the chiefIT officer for
Page 182 Page 183

I Q. On.the page ofthe exhibit bearing 1 the company at that time.

2 the Bates number ending 310,there is a 2 Q. And you're responding in your E-mail
3 paragraph that says,"The company is also 3 to a question from Ms. Morse,and you say,"I
4 coping." 4 guess he figures our attendance softness is
5 Do you see that? 5 influenced in part by consumer response to
6 A. Yes, I do. 6 Blackfish. It's a theory that is impossible
7 Q. "The company is also coping," it 7 to prove or disprove."
8 says,"with negative publicity from Blackfish 8 Do you see that?
9 released in U.S. theaters on July 19th, which 9 A. Yes.
10 began getting attention after its premier at 10 Q. When you say, "It's a theory that is
11 the Sundance Film Festival in January. Quote, 11 impossible to prove or dis -- disprove,"
12 We can attribute no attendance impact at all 12 please explain what you meant.
13 to the movie, Jacobs said." 13 A. Well, as I said earlier, it -- trying
14 Do you see that? 14 to determine why somebody didn't visit a theme
15 A. Yes. 15 park is difficult to do. It -- so the --
16 Q. Did you provide the quoted statement 16 well, there's a couple ofthings. So whatever
17 that appears there to a reporter from 17 decrement that you're talking about, say it's
18 Bloomberg? 18 -- you're down 100,000. So you have to
19 A. Yes. 19 determine, really through educated guesses,
20 Q. Was that a true statement when you 20 whether a single cause is responsible for that
21 made it? 21 decrement, or multiple causes are responsible
22 MR. YOU NGWOOD: Objection to form. 22 for that decrement. And then you apportion
23 THE WITNESS: No. 23 how much each ofthose is responsible for a
24 BY MR.D'ANCONA: 24 given amount ofthe attendance decline.
25 Q. It says -- 25 So that's what I mean by the --
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I there'sjust simply no way to identify the
2 100,000 people who are going to come but then
3 didn't, and then ask them or try to determine
4 why is it that you decided not to come.
5 So was it -- you know, was it a
6 financial issue? Was it an exchange rate
7 issue? Was it a weather issue? What is it?
8 But absent that, it's very, very
9 difficult to determine, you know, what -- why
10 somebody didn't come.
11 Q. Why didn't you say that to Bloomberg?
12 Why did you say -- if you didn't believe your
13 statement to be true —
14 A. Um-hinni.
15 Q. -- instead you believed what you said
16 to Miss Morse to be the case, why didn't you
17 -- why didn't you say that to Bloomberg?
18 MR.YOUNGWOOD: Objection to fonn.
19 THE WITNESS: I was instructed to
20 answer the question by Jim Atchison.
21 MR.D'ANCONA: I see.
22 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
23 Q. Are you aware of any -- any factual
24 basis that Jim Atchison had in his possession
25 that supported that statement when you made
Page 186
I it?
A. No.
3 MR.YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
4 MR. D'ANCONA: Okay. You can set
5 that document aside.
6 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
7 Q. Mr. Jacobs, did you ever say to Mr.
8 Atchison that you did not believe what you
9 said to the Bloomberg reporter to be true?
10 A. I don't believe so.
11 Q. Do you.recall any discussions with
12 any -- do you recall any discussions with any
13 colleagues at SeaWorld.in -- at any time in
14 2013 to the -- to the effect that that
15 statement was not true?
16 MR.YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
17 THE WITNESS: I have a -- kind of
18 a vague recollection of a conversation, and
19 it's -- I can't even tell you who it was with,
20 in which whoever the executive was said
21 something to the effect of, we need to stop
22 answering questions that way or questions that
23 way or something to that effect, and I
24 apologize that I don't have a keener memory of
25 it, but that's the only conversation that I
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2 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
3 Q. And you said that was with an
4 executive?
5 A. I believe so. I mean, it's -- I --
6 the broad term would -- would sort of cover
7 just about everybody in the corporate office,
8 so it's --you know,I wouldn't want to, you
9 know,put more to it than that.
10 Q. Do you recall whether it was in
11 calendar year 2013?
12 MR. YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
13 THE WITNESS: No.
14 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
15 Q. Do you recall it being a discussion
16 of of statements to the effect that
17 Blackfish is having no impact on the business?
18 MR.YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
19 THE WITNESS: Yes, it would be a
20 statement about how unequivocal the -- the
21 comment was,either in the paper or with
22 analysts or -- or whatever -- whatever the
23 context was, it was too unequivocal.
24 MR.D'ANCONA: Okay.
25 THE WITNESS: Josh, after this,
Page 188
1 can we get a quick break, very quick?
2 MR.D'ANCONA: Sure. You know
3 what, we can take a break right now,before we
4 get into the document.
5 THE WITNESS: Are you sure?
6 MR.D'ANCONA: Absolutely. Can we
7 go off the record.
8 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: Off the record
9 at 2:54.
10 (Whereupon, a recess was taken at
11 the above time.)
12 (Whereupon, a document was marked,
13 for identification purposes, as Jacobs Exhibit
14 14.)
15 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: The time now is
16 3:03,back on the record. beginning of Disk
17 No. 4.
18 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
19 Q. Welcome back, Mr. Jacobs.
20 A. Urn-lunm.
21 Q. You've been handed what's marked as
22 Jacobs Exhibit No. 14. Have you got that
23 before you, sir?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. Have you had a chance to look that
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Case 3:14-cv-02129-MMA-AGS Document 439-3 Filed 09/13/19 PageID.37387 Page 29 of
29
CONFIDENTIAL
I over? 1.
2 A. Yes,I have. 2
3 Q. Okay. 3
4 4 MR.D'ANCONA: Okay. You can set
5 5 that aside.
6 6 (Whereupon,a document was marked,
7 7 for identification puiposes, as Jacobs Exhibit
8 815.)
9 9 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
10 10 Q. Mr. Jacobs, Jacobs Exhibit No. 15 has
11 11 been placed before you. It is an E-mail from
12 12 you on August 30th, 2013,to Jim Atchison,
13 13 Tony Taylor, Jim Heaney, Marc Swanson and
14 14 others.
15 15 A. Um-hmm.
16 16 Q. The subject is "LA Times Story."
17 17 Do you see that?
18 18 A. Yes,I do.
19 19 Q. Do you recall sending this E-mail?
/0 20 A. Yes,I do.
21 21 Q. Okay.
22 22 What do you recall about sending
23 23 this E-mail?
24 24 A. My recollection is that when the
25 25 story appeared.that my quote about slashing
Page 190 I Page 192

1 I prices required some explanation. So the --

1 2 it -- that seems to be why I sent it, so that
3 3 they would know the full context of why I said
4 4 that thing that Pm quoted as saying.
5 5 Q. I see.
6 6 Your E-mail copies an article by
7 7 Hugo Martin from the LA Times; is that
8 8 correct?
9 9 A. That's correct.
10 10 Q. Okay.
11 11 Do you recall that this article
12 12 originally was published on August 29th?
13 13 MR. YOUNGWOOD: Objection to form.
14 14 THE WITNESS: I don't recall the
15 15 date of publication.
16 16 MR.D'ANCONA: Okay.
17 17 BY MR.D'ANCONA:
18 18 Q. In any event, you are circulating
19 19 this at 7:36 in the morning on August 30th;
10 ?.0 correct?
21 Z1 A. Yes.
22 ?.2 Q. Okay.
23 3 In the LA Times story, you are
24 Z4 quoted as saying,"We are not slashing prices,
25 .Z5 period, Fred Jacobs, vice president of
Page 191 I Page 193

49(Pages 190 - 193)

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