Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell

Facts

Jerry Falwell was a nationally known minister who had been active as a commentator on politics and public affairs. The November 1983 issue of Hustler Magazine ran a parody of a Campari Liqueur ad. The real Campari ads interviewed celebrities about their "first times." Each ad played on a sexual double meaning, but by the end it was clear that it meant the first time the celebrity sampled Campari. Hustler's editors copied the form and layout of those ads and made Falwell the featured celebrity. They wrote a fake "interview" in which Falwell says his first time was a drunken, incestuous encounter with his mother in an outhouse. The parody portrayed Falwell and his mother as drunk and immoral. It suggested that Falwell was a hypocrite who preaches only when he is drunk. Small print at the bottom of the page said the ad was a parody and was not to be taken seriously. The magazine's table of contents listed the ad as fiction, an ad and personality parody. The jury later found that the parody could not reasonably be understood as describing actual facts about Falwell or actual events in which he took part. Neither side disputed that Falwell was a public figure.

Issues

1. May a public figure recover damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress caused by an offensive parody ad, without showing that the publication contained a false statement of fact made with actual malice?
2. Is a state's interest in protecting public figures from emotional distress enough to deny First Amendment protection to speech that is patently offensive and intended to inflict emotional injury, even when the speech could not reasonably be interpreted as stating actual facts about the public figure?

Holding

Falwell, a public figure, could not recover emotional distress damages for the Hustler ad parody. The jury found it could not reasonably be understood as stating actual facts, so there was no false statement of fact made with actual malice. The First Amendment barred the award.