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Words Will Never Hurt Me.
Looks like it's fine and dandy to refer to someone
as a skank on the radio, as a San Francisco appellate court has tossed out
a woman's suit against local rock station Alice 97.3 FM.
The woman, a losing contestant on the television show "Who Wants to
Marry a Multimillionaire?", sued Infinity Broadcasting Corp. as
well as assorted members of the "Sarah and Vinnie Show" after she was
referred to as a "chicken butt," a "local loser," and a "big skank" during
an on-air broadcast.
The woman, who formally worked in the sales department of another San
Francisco radio station owned by Infinity, claimed she was humiliated by
the broadcast, even though they did not use her name.
The 1st District Court of Appeal, however, said the sophomoric phrases
were more appropriately characterized as a schoolyard taunt than actual
defamation.
Besides, the court ruled, no one really knows what skank means.
The woman's attorney said it was clear the appellate justices were a
little out of touch. He said his client, who was so distraught by the
broadcast that she quit her job and moved to Los Angeles, is deciding
whether to appeal the case to the state high court.
"The problem was that the appellate court used their own experience as a
benchmark," he said. "But the audience of that broadcast certainly knows
what the term skank means."
In the unanimous ruling, the court stated that the fact that considerable
public interest had been generated by the show, and on the sort of person
that would marry a complete stranger in exchange for the notoriety and
supposed financial rewards.
"By having chosen to participate as a contestant in the show, plaintiff
voluntarily subjected herself to inevitable scrutiny and potential
ridicule by the public and the media," Justice Mark Simons wrote for the
three-judge panel.
Source: San Francisco Examiner, "Radio's 'skank'
trash talk ruled OK," April 18, 2002.
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