WND Lawsuit Against Esquire Over 鈥楤irther鈥� Parody Dismissed
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., this week dismissed a lawsuit that WorldNetDaily (WND) Editor-in-Chief filed against Esquire over a satirical article the magazine posted online claiming that Farah had recalled 20,000 copies of Jerome 颁辞谤蝉颈鈥檚 鈥渂irther鈥� book.
The , tagged as 鈥渉umor,鈥� said that WND was pulping 颁辞谤蝉颈鈥檚 Where鈥檚 The Birth Certificate? The Case that Barack Obama is not Eligible to be President. The book was about to go on sale when Obama released his long-form birth certificate, in effect making Farah, WND, Corsi and the title of 颁辞谤蝉颈鈥檚 book look ridiculous. WND鈥檚 complaint accused Esquire, reporter Mark Warren and parent company Hearst Communications Inc. of defaming WND and demanded nearly $250 million in damages.
This week, U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer , ruling that 贰蝉辩耻颈谤别鈥檚 article was protected under the First Amendment as satirical expression related to a matter of public interest.
The May 18, 2011, parody 鈥渞eported鈥� that 鈥淔arah was 鈥榬ip-shit鈥� when 鈥� President Obama took the extraordinary step of personally releasing his 鈥榣ong-form鈥� birth certificate, thus resolving the matter of Obama鈥檚 legitimacy for 鈥榓nybody with a brain.鈥欌�� A disclaimer added later to the post said, 鈥淲e committed satire this morning to point out the problems with selling and marketing a book that has had its core premise and reason to exist gutted by the news cycles, several weeks in advance of publication. 鈥� Hell, even the president has a sense of humor about it all.鈥�
Not everyone shared that sense of humor 鈥撯�� then or now. Larry Klayman, an attorney representing WND, said on Monday that the court鈥檚 decision was 鈥渟ignificantly flawed and intellectually dishonest.鈥� Klayman, founder of the watchdog group Judicial Watch and a writer for WND, plans to appeal.
鈥淭he Washington establishment 鈥� has always been afraid of the eligibility issue,鈥� Klayman said. 鈥淭his may help explain why the judge dropped the case.鈥�
颁辞谤蝉颈鈥檚 Where鈥檚 the Birth Certificate? was promoted as the definitive volume on the question of Obama鈥檚 provenance. The 300-page tome appeared on The New York Times鈥� best seller list when it was released in May 2010 and remains an Amazon best seller a year after its publication.
In recent weeks, Corsi has been filing video dispatches from Hawaii, where he has continued his quixotic investigation into Obama鈥檚 background with the help of Maricopa County (Arizona) Sheriff Joe Arpaio鈥檚 鈥渃old case posse.鈥� He plans to hold a news conference sometime in the coming months, no doubt with new far-fetched details sure to bolster book sales.
