Ex-Howard Stern Performer Abuses YouTube IP Takedowns, Suit Says

YouTube content creators sued an entertainer known as “Stuttering John” for allegedly submitting false copyright takedown notices to silence their criticism and for making defamatory statements about them.

Shuli Egar, Phillip Russo, and TSN Corp. operate “The Uncle Rico Show” on YouTube’s Shuli Network, according to a complaint filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. They allege “Stuttering John,” whose legal name is John Melendez, violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by knowingly submitting at least 27 false takedown notices against their videos, which featured clips of his show with commentary and criticism.

Egar and Melendez are both former cast members of The Howard Stern Show.

The complaint also accuses Melendez of defaming them by calling their network “the pedo network” numerous times and falsely labeling Russo a “felon.”

Melendez admitted multiple times on his own broadcasts that he understood the creators’ use of his content qualified as fair use under copyright law for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, and parody, the complaint says, pointing to more than ten excerpts.

“Despite Melendez’s subjective, actual admitted knowledge that the Plaintiffs’ use of his content is fair use, he believes he has stumbled upon a loophole that will allow him to effectively shut down his critics.”

This isn’t Melendez’s first run-in with intellectual property law. He previously sued Sirius XM Radio Inc., alleging Howard Stern ads violated his publicity rights. In 2022, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that the ads didn’t infringe his name and likeness.

The creators say YouTube has restored each of their videos subject to Melendez’s takedown requests, determining the content was noninfringing. Still, the automatic ten to 14-day removal of each video triggered by Melendez’s abuse has cost them money.

Egar, Russo, and TSN seek a court declaration that their content doesn’t infringe Melendez’s copyrights, monetary damages, attorneys’ fees, and an injunction preventing future allegedly false takedown notices.

Counsel for Melendez didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lanier Ford Shaver & Payne PC represents Egar, Russo, and TSN.

The case is Egar v. Melendez, N.D. Ala., No. 26-cv-00949, complaint filed 6/3/26.