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Gossip Column Has No Special Protection From Defamation Suit

BY Celia Ampel
April 01, 2016

Just because it's on “Page Six” of the New York Post doesn't mean it cannot be defamatory, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. The appellate court revived a defamation lawsuit by a member of The Fugees hip-hop group against the Post for an item in its “Page Six” gossip column, finding reasonable readers might take the story as true.

“While it is surely true that a reader would not expect to encounter the type of hard-hitting investigative journalism that might appear on the front page of the New York Times or the Washington Post , the mere placement of a story in a particular section of the paper is not enough to categorically preclude it from a defamation action,” Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus wrote in Michel v. NYP Holdings, 14-cv-62649.

The case was filed by Pras Michel, a founding member of The Fugees, which also included Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean. Michel sued the New York Post and two of its reporters after it published an October 2014 story saying Michel was a no-show at a 9/11 charity event for “his own” foundation. The article also said the foundation bounced a check to the venue, falsely claimed MTV sponsored the event and failed to register the charity with state officials, according to the November 2014 Michel complaint.

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