Why fitness guru Kayla Itsines has taken ‘Freelee the Banana Girl’ to court
AN online war between two bikini-clad social media fitness personalities with a combined audience of 3 million followers has spilt over into court.
A BITTER online war between two popular, bikini-clad social media fitness personalities — one of whom eats 50 bananas a day — has spilt over into an Adelaide courtroom.
Kayla Itsines, founder of the Bikini Body Guide, has accused Leanne Ratcliffe, better known as “Freelee the Banana Girl”, of defaming her in a case of online ambush marketing.
But Ms Ratcliffe and her partner, vegan lifestyle proponent Harley Johnstone, have refuted the allegations, claiming they are exercising their right to free speech about eating disorders.
The rival sides are playing for high stakes — between them, the online personalities boast almost 3 million Instagram, Facebook and YouTube followers.
More than 100 of Ms Ratcliffe and Mr Johnstone’s fans attended the Supreme Court in a show of support on Monday, chanting the duo’s catchphrase “carb the f — k up”.
Last week, they uploaded a YouTube video asking supporters to be there
Ms Itsines, a personal trainer, operates The Bikini Body Training Company Pty Ltd based in Adelaide.
Her core product, the Bikini Body Guide, boasts more than 2.3 million Instagram followers and 1.3 million Facebook “likes”.
She is in a relationship with Tobias Pearce, who regularly features in her social media updates.
Mr Johnstone and Ms Ratcliffe are known for their YouTube videos, which promote raw eating and “high-carb vegan living” options, and together have almost 500,000 subscribers.
In one of her five-minute clips, Ms Ratcliffe eats 51 bananas in one day while outlining their nutritional and dietary benefits — another of her catchphrases is “go fruit yourself”.
Mr Johnstone’s YouTube channel, called “Durianrider”, promotes itself as “exposing the myths and fads in the health and fitness industries”.
This month, Ms Itsines obtained an injunction with the Supreme Court that ordered several of Ms Ratcliffe and Mr Johnstone’s videos be removed from YouTube.
She asserts the duo have defamed her and Mr Pearce through false claims that her program starves people and that her partner uses steroids.
In a Facebook post, she asserts their purported actions were “wrong and illegal”, and says she will ask the court to have their comments “removed from the internet”.
Mr Johnstone and Ms Ratcliffe responded with videos of their own, insisting they were “sharing their nutritional opinion” and should not be sued for “speaking up”.
Today, court sheriffs officers allowed only 15 of Mr Johnstone and Ms Ratcliffe’s fans inside court, telling the rest to wait outside.
Several people shouted “good luck, Harley and Freelee” as they left the building.
Ms Itsines did not attend court today.
Andrew Harris, QC, for Ms Itsines and Mr Pearce, began the hearing by asking Judge Brian Withers to explain the rules of court to the public gallery.
“There’s a possibility, as a result of information that’s come to me, that some people might think it’s permissible to record the proceedings in court without permission of Your Honour,” he said.
“It would be a concern, were that to happen.”
He said his clients had wanted the videos taken offline immediately, and that had “only partially occurred”.
“We can agree to disagree whether this is a matter of free speech or a rather cynical attempt at ambush marketing,” he said.
“Our principle goal is to have the materials taken down off the internet.”
Mr Harris said Ms Ratcliffe had removed the contentious videos from her YouTube channel but Mr Johnstone had not complied with the injunction.
“Certain of the YouTube posts were altered to be made ‘private’ rather than being able to be viewed by the world at large,” he said.
“That is still, under defamation law, publication as far as we’re concerned.”
Mr Johnstone, who is representing himself, agreed the videos were still online.
“They can’t be viewed, but I’ve kept them on ‘private’ in case I need them or the comments posted on them as evidence,” he said.
“I was just sharing my honest opinion, in the name of public interest, on YouTube.”
Greg Griffin, for Ms Ratcliffe, said Mr Johnstone might wish to explore other avenues to store the material so he could abide by the injunction.
Judge Withers said the matter should proceed immediately to trial.
“I’m presently minded to give directions about pleadings and refer this matter for special case management to a Justice of the Supreme Court,” he said.
However, Mr Harris said there remained a prospect of an “amicable resolution” between his clients and Ms Ratcliffe.
“If Your Honour would be minded to stand this matter over for seven days, it might be doubly beneficial,” he said.
Judge Withers adjourned the hearing until next week.
Outside court, Ms Ratcliffe said she could not discuss the case “on legal advice” before speaking with her supporters.
Mr Johnstone said he wanted the matter to proceed to trial.
“We were just talking about eating disorders on YouTube ... we were just sharing our views openly, based on public interest,” he said.
“I would like to go to trial and get as much exposure as possible on eating disorders and Instagram diets.”
Originally published as Why fitness guru Kayla Itsines has taken ‘Freelee the Banana Girl’ to court
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