Is there a more unethical group of media than the so-called super-market tabloids? There may well be no other single publication that is involved in lawsuits for libel and slander than the National Enquirer. Among those who recently sued- and won- are Carol Burnett and Tom Cruise. Burnett, who donated her award to charity, sued the Enquirer for a story about her allegedly being drunk in public, while Cruise sued for a major story by a male porn star that he and Cruise had a romantic gay fling. In addition, Cruise is suing a small Los Angeles magazine. "It's doubted he needs the money, but for the second time in two months Tom Cruise has filed a $100 million lawsuit against someone suggesting that he's gay. This time it's Michael Davis, who publishes Bold, a Los Angeles magazine. Cruise claims Davis wrote a dozen news outlets saying he'd found a videotape capturing the star having sex with another manaFollowing a report by the French magazine, Actustar that Cruise had a fling with a gay male porn star (Cruise is suing the actor while still deciding whether to sue the magazine), Cruise is on a mission." (People 17)
The fact is that libel and slander are difficult to prove, but celebrities are major targets. The reason is obvious: voracious readers who want to believe every little piece of "dirt" about big names gobble news about stars' activities up. Currently, the major concern of personalities is being "out-ed." That is, revelations of their sexual habits are being released to the public, sometimes true, sometimes not. While our lifestyles no longer consider being gay or lesbian to be the end of a career (Ellen DeGeneres among others is proof of that) nevertheless, it can hurt at the box office. It used to be that the powerful studios were able to keep the press and columnists from printing the truth. The fact that Rock Hudson was homosexual never made print until he revealed he had AIDS. It is, of course, a well-know...