Apr 16, 2008 1:00 PM PDT    Text size: 

Hollywood gossip website Defamer.com rounded up three Monroe experts to debunk the claims made by memorabilia collector Keya Morgan that he had discovered a lost sex filmstrip starring the movie legend and sex icon.

The trio of experts bases their argument around a previous interview with Morgan and on a series of what they say are logical problems with Morgan's claims.

Defamer's Monroe experts include collector and Monroe fan Mark Bellinghaus, "The Ultimate Marilyn" author Ernest W. Cunningham, and freelance journalist Jennifer J. Dickinson, whose Monroe bona fides are not mentioned in the Defamer story.

Defamer's experts argue that in a 2007 interview with Morgan, the collector dropped names and "spoke quickly and nonstop" about conspiracy theories surrounding Monroe's death and of friendships he said he had with Monroe's three husbands.

"The most recent sensationalism of this supposedly existing film footage generated by Mr. Morgan ties in with the usual opportunistic conspiracy theories that are out there," the Defamer story reads.

Defamer's Monroe experts then outline three logical holes in Morgan's claims:

• Morgan said that he obtained his copy of the film from a former FBI informant, who said he made a copy from an original master being held by the FBI itself. Why wouldn't the FBI have put a stop to Morgan's current sale — and the media blitz surrounding it — if it involved evidence, however dated?

• Morgan said that the sex tape was filmed before Monroe became a star. Why would the FBI have wanted blue footage of an obscure actress? (Morgan originally said that then-FBI director J. Edgar Hoover wanted the footage because he thought the unidentified man in the film was one of the Kennedys.)

• Morgan said he identified Monroe in the film based on her mole. Defamer's experts argue that doesn't constitute a positive ID.

"This … is one of the flimsiest pieces of evidence ever presented," Defamer's story reads. "Just because this alleged film has a person with a mole, it's instantly Marilyn Monroe?"