Nielsen Sues Bubba The Love Sponge For Ratings Tampering

Nielsen has sued Bubba “the Love Sponge” Clem over claims that he paid a radio listener in an attempt to inflate his own ratings. Billboard reports that the ratings company filed a federal lawsuit on Thursday accusing Clem of fraud, conspiracy to defraud, violating the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Practices Act and interfering with business and contractual relations between Nielsen and Beasley. Beasley is the company that owns the station which carries Clem’s show.

The lawsuit says that his unnamed partner in the scam was an acquaintance of a listener who Clem learned was participating in the ratings survey. Clem then allegedly met with the man and offered to pay $300 a month if the listener helped to increase his ratings, with a bonus of $400 per month if the target result was reached.

Nielsen claims that Clem sent texts to the listener which told him to stay quiet, saying, “U have to PROMISE NOT TO SAY A WORD … This could ruin me.” He also told the listener to switch to other stations in order to avoid suspicion, but told him not to listen to 102.5, which airs Clem’s rival. Clem also allegedly had radios shipped to the listener’s home and may have tried to influence other panelists.

The listener eventually came forward and contacted Nielsen about the arrangement.

Nielsen said in a statement that it doesn’t comment on pending litigation, adding, “Nielsen is committed to maintaining the highest standards of data and panel integrity and will continue to act swiftly to ensure that those standards are upheld and protected.”

Clem is a shock jock in the Florida area who had a brief run in TNA. His friendship with Hulk Hogan became tabloid headlines in the wake of Hogan’s sex tape scandal, in which Clem’s wife Heather was Hogan’s partner. The tape was filmed in Clem’s house and he was initially sued by Hogan along with Gawker, though Hogan eventually dropped him from the suit.

Clem said in a statement on October 6th after the allegations were initially made, “I take full responsibilities for what happened and subsequently the consequences that probably are here forward. There’s no excuses, there’s nobody to blame, I am the person to blame and I’ll accept whatever happens moving forward.”

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