When Saturday Night live depicts the president as an incompetent clumsy oaf, or when Conan O'Brien does the talking mouths of famous people, or when South Park depicts Sally Strothers as a food hoarding Jabba the Hut and shows Bill Gates getting a bullet through his head, they seem able to do it without getting sued for things like defamation of character, libel, etc. So I'm wondering, can people really be sued for these acts? Actually, I suppose people can be sued for anything. So I guess my question should be: Is defamation of character really a legitimate charge?
Suppose I wanted to create web pages or publish printed articles dedicated to trashing people I hate. And I wanted to refer to these people with foul language and say they have their heads up their a*s, they suck on their own penis, and show pictures of these people similar to the animations seen in the TV show Boston Public, how much could I get away with?
Where is the line between public satire and defamation of character or libel? Saturday Night Live, Conan O'Brien and South Park seem to be crossing it all the time.