As Your Crusty Old Uncle Might Say, The Thing About Stereotypes Is . . .

Some just don’t get the importance of never repeating the negative:

Citing a journalism “Shield Law,” the judge denied a request to obtain outtakes from the MTV reality show, “True Life: I’m A Staten Island Girl” in the prosecutors’ attempt to document an alleged assault in a swank Tottenville lounge on July 8.

Part of the controversial TV documentary, which followed three 20-something borough women as they club-hopped, mall-shopped, “tawked” and hobnobbed with Gottiesque wannabes, was filmed as one of them partied in Hush, a brass-hued club on Ellis Street. Many residents griped that the show unfairly stereotyped the Island.

Stapleton Criminal Court Judge Matthew A. Sciarrino Jr. said the 40-minute tape, which he reviewed outside the presence of the involved parties, “does not contain relevant footage of the alleged assault or the events leading up to the alleged assault” involving Thomas J. Ford.

Ford, 40, was arrested on charges of misdemeanor assault and harassment, a violation. He has pleaded not guilty, and his case is pending.

Prosecutors had subpoenaed the tapes, hoping to document the alleged crime.

. . .

Sciarrino said the tapes showed six instances of disturbances that could be characterized as “fighting;” however, the instigators and reasons for any assaults “were not discernible.” Consequently, the tapes were not relevant.

“The anonymity of the assailants was conspicuously preserved by the cameraman’s behavior of pointing the camera downward or at inanimate objects each time a disturbance became apparent,” the judge wrote. “Additionally, the lights for the camera would be turned off.”

Backstory: Next You’ll Tell Me That Melanie Griffith’s Depiction Of Working Girl Tess McGill Was Inaccurate!, We Are All Orange Now.