Law: Taking The Peril out of Parody

In Falwell v. Flynt, the First Amendment won

No one ever accused Hustler of good taste. Even so, it would require a tough hide not to be offended by the ad parody that it first ran in 1983. Taking off on a Campari Liqueur campaign that featured celebrities reminiscing about their "first time" -- with the drink, that is -- Hustler ran a spoof that portrayed the Rev. Jerry Falwell as a drunkard whose first sexual encounter was a tryst with his mother in an outhouse. Outrageous? Yes. Funny? Hardly. Plausible? No. But just in case, small print at the foot of the page warned the less discerning reader,...

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