Labatt threatened to sue the Montreal Gazette over a Luka Magnotta photo it really, really didn’t like

Labatt Breweries got a little testy after the Montreal Gazette recently ran a photo on its website plucked from the Facebook page of Luka Magnotta in which the Toronto-born man accused of sending dismembered body parts to Canadian politicians is seen clearly cradling a bottle of Labatt Blue. Naturally, the brewer wasn’t exactly thrilled at appearing to be the drink of choice of an (alleged) psychopathic killer and responded by sending a letter to the Gazette demanding the paper take the photo down— threatening legal action if it failed to do so (Labatt said the image is “highly denigrating” to its brand—shocker). The newspaper, for its part, noted it had no intention of complying with Labatt’s request, and Labatt decided to drop the suit after being widely criticized and mocked for it. Of course, the non-Gazette-reading population probably never would’ve seen the photo had Labatt not threatened to sue—but, ironically, we’re pretty sure it has now. We figure Labatt had thought of that possibility already, and probably just wanted to put some distance between its signature beer and the (alleged) killer that likes to drink it. Right? [The Canadian Press]