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.
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
It is counted as a parody, which has different laws
Celebrities don't really win anything by suing. First, they look like a cry baby. Second, the bar for slander/libel against a public figure is enormous.
Apparently they actually had to have him packing fudge to call him a fudge packer and to have him in the closet.
They couldn't just call him a fag or they would get sued.
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
They are already working on weakening it.
It should be noted that that really only applies to citizens being protected from the government (and primarily was created to protect the printing presses and media from the government). There is no legal precedent to indicate that it would apply between citizens.
There comes an issue when a private citizen seeks to use the engines of state to punish those whose speech offends them.
It's one thing to withdraw society and business from someone who offends you, quite another to demand that the state crush them for you. Of course, most states will do that to a greater or lesser degree. No state extends an absolute freedom of speech.
But all kinds of other laws protect citizens from other citizens. You can't hurt them, can't slander them, etcetc so there's really not much most people can do. The most of it is saying "they did a terrible parody of me" and not deal with them anymore.
That concept doesn't really apply very well here.
The government can't make laws restricting speech(with very limited exceptions) therefore other citizens can't legally go after you for protected speech. They're allowed to tell you you're an asshole, they're allowed to ignore you, but they don't have a court case.
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.
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.
Simmaraly
You meant "Similarly" (like "similar" but with an "ly" at the end).
I did. My mobile keyboard sucks and changes things when I start a new word. I often miss it.
Telling people to suck on Chef’s Chocolate Salty Balls was one of my favorites parts of my fucked up childhood.
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
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.
IANAL, but I'm pretty sure calling someone a rapist who hasn't been convicted in a court of law of being a rapist could get you into trouble. Now the fascist part is completely subjective so you could probably get away with it.
Nope. I sincerely believe Trump is a rapist.
That’s not defamation because I have good reason to believe that.
Remember, the presumption of innocence is not a matter of fact- it’s an assumption that dictates procedural principles until it is in fact proven. But, if you rape some one… your a rapist. Period.
I always find it funny that this got them in trouble
This didn't
But I'm still pissed this didn't get aired:
what was the problem with the bear?
Mohammed was in there. There's a big thing about Mohammed not being able to be down, so they have to hide him any way they can. The official release has a censor over the "lesson speech", which is dumb AF given the message they're censoring.
It got aired, the entire speech at the end was just bleeped out. I remember watching this live after all the hype, and in was pissed at cc for doing this. Buncha pussies
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
The UK has a lot of shows with celebrity parodies... As in the US it's entirely protected speech...
Spitting Image seems like the most immediately obvious one. It's older, of course, but I think the point stands
In Penn & Teller: Bullshit, they did something similar. They pointed out very early they would be more vulgar than most people expect. This is because words like fraud, quack, scammer, etc were specific allegations that could land them in court. But words like asshole were not, and were much safer.
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
I never wanted to see a hypothetical show as badly as this
Relevant QI fact: youtube
Sorry YouTube link - you know the game
I'll sue you in England!
the country has a strict class system
Yanks pretending their country doesn't have a class system on the internet has to be one of my favourite delusions.
Nobody said the US doesn't have a class system? Also the person you're responding to appears to be a kiwi, not an American.
Non-Americans making fools out of themselves while trying to casually denigrate the US is one of my favorite internet traditions. It's especially entertaining because there are plenty of valid criticisms, but people often seem to go for the most lazy, inaccurate generalizations and reveal their ignorance.
Our class system is based entirely on how much money you have. The UK still has a legal aristocracy based on how much land your direct ancestor owned 800 years ago.
South Park true understanding is only for people that achieved thinking out of the box.
Have you not read the intro text?
In the other country that starts with US you would be tortured and then send to a camp for political prisoners
Wtf are you on about? Do you mean the ussr? They disbanded in like 91
U
zsbekistan?
I have no idea what you're talking about. Assuming the United States is one, what is the other? And which one are you talking about? Sorry if this is just the joke/topic going over my head or something.
Hijacking this, but, do people actually watch south park? My friend showed me a couple episodes, one was about cartman having a kanye on his shoulder that made him antisemitic, and the whole episode was pretty stupid. Also showed me a... parody? Of multiverse stuff, maybe? Had some sort of willy wonka figure and imaginationland and a bunch of off brand characters, and then they all died in a big war, that one was pretty stupid. Also showed me a one about the being evil and killing jesus on christmas, or something like that, which was also pretty stupid. Other friend showed me a dog the bounty hunter parody, also struck me as pretty stupid. They were all just really dumb, there was nothing really insightful about any of this subject matter in particular, it was just like I was watching whatever they were making satire of, but if it was decroded by like a couple IQ medians.
I dunno, most other adult-oriented animated comedies are also pretty bad and hacky, and also feel the need, a lot of the time, and especially in their "cultural commentary" episodes, to have something at the end which ties everything into a takeaway for the viewer, totally unironically. Like a children's book that needs to have a moral or message. In south park, it's always an extremely writer's-POV here's your takeaway "I am talking directly to the audience", kind of way, which I find, just straight up pretty bad most of the time. I dunno, I really don't understand how people watch this shit. It's like a show that would come on inside of some other show as a shorthand that the people watching it are really dumb.
Yes people watch south park, and have their entire lives.
Is the show always good? No, some of the more recent stuff has been pretty downright terrible actually. Will I keep watching it? Yes. Crack Baby Basketball was probably the best commentary ever on why players at the college level can't be paid. Do I always agree with them? Nope. I don't know how you didn't like the Kanye episode though, Cupid Ye was hilarious, and they were pretty much just straight making fun of him and immortalizing his breakdown.
They were blatantly wrong about climate change, which they addressed with the return of ManBearPig and Al Gore. They did trans issues almost a decade before anyone else did with Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina.
South Park has always been about fighting censorship, without them, it's fair to say that we would not have had a ton of TV moments, largely because they cleared the way for others.
It's fair if you didn't like them, not everyone is into watching Santa do coke with Jesus and Randy. The whole show is basically about offending people and there have even been episodes I can't get behind because it's my turn. But to me, South Park will always be entertaining because sometimes they're just plain silly, and sometimes there's a deeper context.
The BP oil spill episodes, Crack Baby Basketball, Nascar is for Poor People, and episode 200 and 201 are all excellent commentaries on different issues. For just random hilarity, Die Hippie Die, Scott Tennorman Must Die, and the most recent Christmas Special are just silly episodes.
And if you don't like it, that's fine, not everything is for everyone.
To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Rick and Morty. The humour is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the jokes will go over a typical viewer's head. There's also Rick's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation- his personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these jokes, to realise that they're not just funny- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Rick & Morty truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the humour in Rick's existential catchphrase "Wubba Lubba Dub Dub," which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenev's Russian epic Fathers and Sons. I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Dan Harmon's genius wit unfolds itself on their television screens. What fools.. how I pity them. 😂
And yes, by the way, i DO have a Rick & Morty tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the ladies' eyes only- and even then they have to demonstrate that they're within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand. Nothin personnel kid 😎
