Defaming the Dead

FindLaw’s John Dean discusses Rep. Peter King’s comments about the late Michael Jackson before an American Legion post audience and comments on a cause of action for defaming the dead. Rep. King called the late singer “a pervert, a child molester, …a pedophile…”. Says Mr. Dean, “To defame Michael Jackson as “a child molester” and “a pedophile” – while claiming there was “nothing good about this guy” who devoted his considerable talents to carrying a message of peace and harmony throughout the world – was clearly way over the top.”

But are Rep. King’s comments actionable? Defamation is a tort that does not survive the death of the plaintiff, points out Mr. Dean. He reviews an attempt by the New York State Assembly to create a right of action for defaming the dead. “King’s excessive remarks caused me to recall how seriously the New York Assembly considered adopting a law providing a cause of action to the family of a deceased person, who has been gratuitously defamed as King defamed Michael Jackson. Not surprisingly, King’s remarks have provoked a flood of similar thinking, albeit by largely anonymous people on the Internet who joined the attack on Jackson’s reputation. Ignoring the actual facts of Jackson’s life, like King, these anonymous commenters are also speaking out with no true knowledge of the evidence….In the late 1980s, the New York Assembly seriously and repeatedly considered a legislative remedy that would alter the common law rule precluding a lawsuit for posthumous defamation, notwithstanding the ongoing hissy fits of news organizations. New York Governor Mario Cuomo even supported one of the proposals. In the end, however, the powerful New York-based communications industry, using its money and clout, killed the proposal.”

Read Mr. Dean’s column here.