Saturday Night Live to Sue Newt Gingrich For Slander

In response to former House Speaker, Newt Gingrich saying that "Saturday Night Live skits were slander and worthy of a lawsuit," SNL Executive Producer, Lorne Michaels said the show is seriously considering a counter suit claiming that Gingrich has "slandered the SNL brand causing it great loss of future income."

"We have spent over thirty years developing the SNL brand of satire, "said Michaels. "And now we have someone of such eminent respect claiming we are distorting rather than satirizing. That's Fox News's job, not ours."

On Thursday evening's Greta Van Susteren show on Fox News, Gingrich said "Saturday Night Live skits, some of which I think were slander and worthy of a lawsuit. I think the American people should realize that the elite media on the left is so desperate to elect Barack Obama that the view they're giving you of Sarah Palin is fundamentally a falsehood."

"First of all, if any show dealing with satire wanted anyone to be elected, it would be Palin," said Michaels. "Have you ever tried writing humor on Obama? With Palin, we're out of here by mid-afternoon everyday."

A Gingrich spokesman said the Michaels' threat won't defer Gingrich from following through with legal action.

"First of all we can't be sure if Michaels' threat is satire or fact,"said Gingrich attorney, Roger Ailes. "Secondly the Speaker feels very strongly that the founding fathers would not have stood for excuses of satire to justify jokes at the expense of government officials. I don't think that's what our Thomas Jefferson had in mind when he entrusted us with freedom of speech."

Gingrich also revealed that "to stop spinning political fabrications," he would also being suing Jay Leno, David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel, The Onion, National Lampoon, the Jonathon Swift estate and Bill O'Reilly.

"These jokers cannot can not keep getting away with mocking the truth as I want it to be."

Award-winning TV writer, Steve Young, is author of "Great Failures of the Extremely Successful" and blogs at the appropriately named steveyoungonpolitics.com

Comments

[larry278]

America may be broke but lunacy lives when Loren & Newt speak. America will always be a laughing stock because of Loren & Newt. American traditions will survive national bankruptcy.

[LawHoo97]

This is a joke, right? April Fools! Doesn't Newt have any idea about the scope of our first amendment protection, especially in the political arena and with public figures. Has he really lost it?

[GregJL]

Did he actually ever HAVE it?