Under what’s known as the libel-proof plaintiff doctrine, celebrities who have already tarnished their own reputations beyond repair can’t claim defamation if something false is written about them. Country music singer Blake Shelton says it doesn’t apply to him when it comes to drinking, and a judge in California agrees. But at least one First Amendment expert isn’t so sure.
In September 2015, In Touch Weekly ran a cover story about Shelton headlined “The Real Story: REHAB for Blake.” None too pleased with the claim that he was headed for rehab, Shelton filed a defamation lawsuit against Bauer Publishing Co., the magazine’s publisher. Claiming that the entertainment magazine had already falsely accused him of cheating on his wife, the suit states that “Blake Shelton has had enough.”
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