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this post was submitted on 12 Apr 2024
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No Stupid Questions
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One of my favourite legal disclaimers of all time. It reads like Bukowskian legalese.
That's it? You just need to say "you know this actor character we call Tom Cruise in our show, and does the same stuff as the real actor Tom cruise in real life, it's actually a fictional character unrelated to the real Tom Cruise in real life" and you Gucci?
Keep in mind that a celebrity can send you and me, regular joes, a C&D and we'd likely comply simply because we lack the resources to sustain a challenge in court.
What stops celebrities and organizations from suing South Park creators is likely the opposite: they have money and a legal team.
The same thing happened with John Oliver when he talked shit about some coal mine owner that was notorious for suing people. The mine owner served them from a court that had friendly laws but they were ready. And they had insurance to pay for it.
Full story, the guy really is an awful piece of shit.
That is fantastic
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This is really only to prevent them from suing and claiming that the show is representing the actions of celebrities on the show as true fact. If I publish a newspaper article saying "Donald Trump strangled a baby" without evidence then that could be actionable, as it's a factual claim. But if I showed Donald Trump strangling babies as part of an obvious parody, then that would be protected speech. So their disclaimer is basically just to make it obvious that it's a parody. It's not a requirement, but they want to cover their asses.
If it's all stuff he really does in real life, how could he sue over it? If it's factual, you can't sue. Well you could but you'd lose because South Parks lawyers would say "show me what we said that wasn't true"
If it's its fictional and they clearly state at the beginning of the episode that it's fictional and you should not assume it's true, it's going to be really hard to convince a judge that they were trying to trick people into thinking something was true in order to harm you.
The first amendment allows you to make fun of people, especially if you say "we're just being silly and none of this is serious" beforehand
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In the United States, parody is protected by the First Amendment as a form of expression.
Yuuuup, and a lot of times the people that get parodied love it. It’s like fuck me! We made it to the point where South Park makes fun of us. Only person I know of that got pissed was Kanye but fuck that guy anyways
The best thing is he apparently actually didn't get the fish sticks joke which, if true, makes Parker and Stone the best satirists of all time on merits.
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Nirvana famously said they knew they had made it when Weird Al did a parody of Smells Like Teen Spirit.
If I recall, Weird Al tries to get permission for all his parodies too, just further adding to the point that people mostly are good with that kind of attention.
That he does. The only snafu he had was with Coolio for Gangster’s Paradise. Apparently the label said yes but didn’t actually check with Coolio and he wasn’t happy about it. Weird Al apologized for the mixup and they made peace with it later. Weird Al said the only star that has consistently turned him down was Prince, who didn’t find the whole parody thing funny.
Many years later, Coolio said that he regrets his reaction and that he realizes it's an honor to get a Weird Al parody.
That warms my old cynical heart just a little
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George Clooney liked the show so much he wanted to be on the show but they rejected his request initially since they don't let famous people play themselves. They in turn offered him the non-speaking role of Stan's gay dog. Clooney showed up and gave a full performance of barks.
George Clooney was instrumental in getting the show made in the first place. He liked their second Christmas short so much that he made hundreds of copies and gave them to all his friends, which helped them pitch the show.
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And most of the ones who arent ok with it are aware of the "Streisand effect" and know that their best course of action is to either ignore it or pretend they are ok with it and wait for everyone to move on.
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Ah yes, the gay fish
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Parody is protected under US law.
People can (and do) sue, but they lose every time because it's easy for their well resourced corporate legal team to prove the show is (obviously) parody and thus, protected free speech.
Also public figures have to prove "actual malice" in a defamation or libel case. Actual malice is an incredibly hard thing to prove.
I imagine if it were easier, there would be like another couple hundred of thousand lawsuits against Trump lol
And by Trump, too. He'd definitely try and cash in if it were possible.
Simple answer is they are careful about what they say and have good lawyers that review it.
A few examples.
Calling Tom Cruise a fudge packer in the context of him being in a bathhouse could eaisly open them up to liability for calling him gay. But doing it in a fudge factory while showing him putting fudge in a box gives them a clear defense that they meant it literally.
Simmaraly telling him to come out of the closet while he is actually in a closet provides cover.
Making things so absurd that a reasonable person wouldn't believe it and know it's a joke also works. So having Barbara Streisand aquire an artifact that makes her into a giant robot monster works but something plausible wouldn't.
Having Kanye open up and admit he is a gay fish is absurd enough to provide protection. However they probably couldn't get away with him simply coming out as gay.
Of course the genius of south park is they use these legal protections in ways that make the story funnier and not just for cover.
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Reminds me that Scientology sent "private investigators" after Matt and Trey to find dirt on them, but ended up with nothing
https://www.avclub.com/scientologists-spent-a-long-time-investigating-south-pa-1798228087
You can't damage the credibility of people who don't claim to have any. And, in attempting to do so, you can only increase their credibility.
Matt and Trey don't claim to be any more than a few jackass comedians with a TV show. Scientology's MO really doesn't work against guys like that.
They demolished Scientology, before people were "afraid" of them.
This video talks about the whole story https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMrN5nWuh_s
Are all youtube videos so epileptic nowadays? Does this appeal to people? Am I out of touch?
Am I out of touch?
No, it's the children who are wrong.
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They do get sued pretty often, but the law is on their side. The more absurd the circuimstances the easier it is to get away with as Parody, the only time you're in hot water is if the viewers in any sizable metric would be fooled into thinking the things portrayed in the show were true when in reality they weren't. In fact, when South Park revealed everything about Scientology's internal beliefs they were almost sued but Scientology backed down because what South Park said in the episode was actually verifiable truths that could be backed up with evidence in court.
Southpark isn't sued as far as I know, but they have received massive criticism and even death threats from terrorists organizations.
They must be doing something right then
keep in mind, we're talking about the show that toppled Scientology.
just, for the record.... part of how it's able to make fun of shit is because they're usually correct about the stuff they're mocking.
Saying 'Biden is a baby-sacrificing pedophile' is defamation. saying 'trump is a rapist and a fascist' is not.
further, both parody and satire are in fact protected speech. at least, for the moment.
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I always find it funny that this got them in trouble
This didn't
But I'm still pissed this didn't get aired:
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It's a very fine line they would have to walk. It must be believable to the average person that the claims are true. It must not actually be true. It must be done with (the appearance of) malice. It must not be done as a criticism/satire of the target and their actions.
And on top of that, their publicist/PR must think a lawsuit will get them more than they lose. Once it's aired, it is out there forever. It could then be the one that everyone seeks out and shares with friends, as "the one that Tom Cruise sued to get rid of". This is known as "The Streisand Effect".
As others have pointed out, US first amendment laws generally protect shows like South Park because it's generally understood that the characters in the show that resemble real people are parodies, and the show runners aren't stating a fact that the real person said or did a thing in reality.
Funnily enough, the UK has much stricter laws about defaming people - the country has a strict class system, and it wouldn't do if poor people could embarrass rich people - there is a significant carve out for "vulgar abuse". If I was to go on TV and (for sake of example) called Boris Johnson three shit-stained jugs of fetted piss wearing a trench coat, that would be ok, because people understand that to be a euphemistic insult, not a literal statement of fact. If I went on TV and said that he was a drunk, that wouldn't be - unless I can prove that he is an alcoholic, he could sue me for libel. The outcome of this is that an equivalent show to South Park could be made in the UK, it would just have to be utterly filthy
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