Militant broadcaster brands 15-year-old girl a ‘prostitute’ for crying in fear at Oregon town meetin

[branford]

37. The higher standards for public figures have nothing to do with the difficulty

in bringing a defamation action in this case.

My example about the prostitute was assuming Santilli didn't actually have such evidence, as I unsurprisingly don't believe the girl at issue is a prostitute.

Offering a vile opinion of someone, when such statement is clearly only an opinion, is not actionable. Santilli would need to offer a statement of fact about the girl that was untrue, i.e., she actually sold sexual services for money, to be potentially liable for defamation. No one would could reasonably believe that Santilli was making such a suggestion in this context, and any lawyer who relied on such statement alone to file a lawsuit would soon have the case thrown out, and in many jurisdictions and federal court, might face additional costs and/or sanctions.