Could Tom Cruise Sue "South Park" For Suggesting He is Gay? And Even If He Could, Should He?

FindLaw ^ | December 6, 2005 | Julie Hilden

[EveningStar]

A recent episode of the television animated comedy "South Park" mocked Tom Cruise -- suggesting that he is homosexual, and lying to hide that fact. Could Cruise bring a defamation suit against the show?

[EveningStar]

SOUTH PARK PING!

For those who don't know how you got on this ping list: the initial ping list was created by copying member names from past South Park threads.

Please ping me with any South Park related articles. Thank you!

If you want on or off this ping list, please FReepmail me.

This is expected to be a low to medium volume ping list.



South Park TV schedule at Comedy Central

South Park syndication schedule - these are older episodes that have been released to broadcast TV and are therefore heavily edited.

South Park sites at South Park Studios and Comedy Central

Search for previous South Park articles at Free Republic by title or keyword.

Create a South Park character of yourself at Planearium.de or SouthParkStudios.com.

South Park products available at Amazon and Comedy Central.

Download South Park episodes in bit torrent format at MrTwig or South Park Complete.

Read scripts of South Park episodes at South Park Stuff.

The South Park Scriptorium, a good all around site for South Park information.

The Wikipedia article on South Park.

[cchandler]

That was a good episode. I had no idea that scientologists were such fruitloops. I always thought it was more of a psychology and lifestyle, now I know it's a science fiction novel.

[.cnI redruM]

He should be honored to have been offered membership in the Feature Actors Guild.

[HairOfTheDog]

And Even If He Could, Should He?

The pertinent question really is, if he did, would he look more or less silly?

[KevinDavis]

They are so sued..

[Auntbee]

Could he look more sillier than he does now?

[HairOfTheDog]

That's really a harder question to answer than it would seem!

[ozoneliar]

He would have a tough time with defemation(I think) because South Park is a cartoon.

[AmishDude]

I read the article. Is this author a lawyer? Shades of Legally Blonde, here.

She even misses the reference to "in England". It isn't because they don't have a First Amendment, it's that their libel and slander laws are notoriously lax.

Yes, he can sue.

Yes, he will lose.

[atomicpossum]

1) Parody.

2) In the episode, he hid in a closet after an insult to his acting ability. The constant requests to 'come out of the closet' were about that, not about homosexuality. SOUTH PARK can claim with wide-eyed innocence 'Why, we NEVER intended it to be taken THAT way."

So, no. But it'd be fun to watch him try.

[Altair333]

I've always thought Cruise was a flake, but I never thought he acted gay. Not sure what vibes other people are picking up there- he's always played macho roles and has done a pretty good job (especially in "Collateral"). Reminds me of the "Troy Aikman is gay" rumors a while back- I think some people do tend to get jealous and go to the gay card.

[cgk]

*ping*

[Gaffer]

If I'm not mistaken, good ole "L Ron" also wrote "Battelfield Earth," which was, by the way, a very good book. Much to my
sadness, John Travolta's movie of it was pitiful...

Now you know why John did the movie.....he's a Scientologist also....

[Malacoda]

John and Jane Doe are soooo sued.

Mr. Cruise, please come out of the closet.

[mnehring]

They didn't suggest he was gay.. maybe insecure about his acting, and thus, hiding in Stan's closet, but I don't remember the word Gay in the entire show.

[ElkGroveDan]

Could Cruise bring a defamation suit against the show?

30 years ago I used to ask my mother; could you sue someone for this? and could you sue someone for that? One day out of exasperation she said, "Honey you could sue someone for putting up their Christmas tree, but that doesn't necessarily mean you would get anywhere."

I'm glad she never lived to see the day when that example was no longer seen as absurdly unlikely.

[cgk]

If a lawsuit comes of the South Park episode, it won't be because it inferred that Cruise AND Travolta are gay. They gave the facts of what Scientology believes, and that's a big no-no.

[hsalaw]

I thought Hollywood celebrated being homosexual as part of their "diversity." So how could this be an insult (or libel) to Cruise?