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Why do celebs sue tabloids in Europe?
Why do celebrities seem to sue only European tabloids, even though they usually say the same things the American ones do?
—Melanie, Ottawa, Canada
The B!tch Replies: It does seem odd how harsh those English judges are on reporters. By definition, anyone who wears a wig to court really ought to be fun times. Makes no sense.
But it's true. European courts are harsher on the celebrity media. And for one reason:
"Neither England nor many European countries have a First Amendment," says Ann Loeb, partner at Dreier Stein and Kahan, which has sued U.S. publications on behalf of Ashley Olsen and Clint Eastwood.
In United States libel cases, the burden of proof lies mostly with the person filing the suit. If I write an untrue story about how Pete Wentz secretes a black eyelinery substance out of his tear ducts and how he's trying gene therapy to turn that substance an electric blue, it's up to Pete to sue me and prove that it's false. To win his libel suit, Pete also needs to prove I knew the allegation was false when I published it or that I wrote it with malice in my shriveled legume of a heart.
Overseas, it's a whole different deal. The burden shifts to the publications, which are forced to show that what they wrote was true. And no malice need be proven.
Ergo, both Kate Hudson and Britney Spears have gone after the British version of the National Enquirer, which publishes mostly in the U.S., and both have secured apologies. Hudson, who sued over a story alleging that her mom was worried about her eating habits, also secured damages.
Other celebrities who have recently brought successful complaints to British courts:
- Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham, who just this week won an apology and unspecified damages from a British magazine that claimed Posh had been rude to a TV crew.
- Sharon Stone, who went after Associated Newspapers over an item saying she left her son in a car while she ate in a restaurant.
- Teri Hatcher, who sued the Daily Sport after the paper alleged she frequently had sex with various men in a VW van she kept parked outside her house.
- Cameron Diaz, who accepted "substantial" damages from the Sun over a report that she was sleeping with a married TV producer.
- Lance Armstrong, who trounced the the Sunday Times for daring to print that he took performance-enhancing drugs.
Honestly, the idiocy. Who needs drugs for energy when you've got a smile that can power a small stadium?
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