The Artful Jurist

A federal court in New Jersey has cited the First Amendment as a rationale for dismissing a defamation lawsuit filed against a stand-up comedian by her in-laws whom the comedian, in her act, had called "racist" and "dumb."

Sundra Croonquist, who is of African-American and Swedish descent, has used her interactions with her Jewish husband's relatives as fodder for her comedy routine.  To say Ms. Croonquist does not paint a flattering portrait of some of her in-laws, is an understatement.  Her comedy bits include such statements as the assertion that her mother-in-law is a racist and her sister-in-law is dumb—comments which the in-laws charged in their lawsuit as being defamation and false light.

The court disagreed, saying in its ruling dismissing the case, that these portrayals of the in-laws constituted obvious opinions rather than facts.  An opinion is protected by the First Amendment's freedom of speech clause and is not actionable as a defamatory statement.