The Politics Ranter

So buried underneath that other Britney Spears super-news, was a smaller piece about her. Specifically, that a judge threw out her libel lawsuit against US Weekly. The tabloid had published rumours of the existence of a Spears/Federline sex tape. The judge dismissed the lawsuit because “The backdrop against which this issue must be addressed is that the plaintiff has publicly portrayed herself in a sexual way in her performances, in published photographs and in a reality show, Chaotic.”

What the fuck? So because she’s an attractive woman who wore revealing clothes, people are allowed to make up whatever they want about her and publish it in their shoddy rag? I’m far from a fan of hers, but the logic there is ludicrous. It’s akin to the old “She was asking for it” line, and for a judge to use it as justification for a court ruling is pretty disgusting.

Here’s a parallel: If someone decided to fabricate rumours that Donald Trump was up to some fraudulent accounting, would a judge say, “Well, too bad because you put your Machiavellian business savvy in the spotlight”? I don’t fucking think so. He’d win his lawsuit faster than he could file it.