Suppose Mel Gibson claims that the current Pope is gay.

Would that be defamation/ slander/ libel?

Suppose Mel Gibson claims that the Pope is a vegetarian. Would that be defamation/ slander/ libel?

Suppose Mel Gibson claims that the current Pope is "objectively gay, where the word 'objectively' is to be understood in the Stalinistic sense." Then what?

for the OPs that are the most unexpected. I would never even think some of the stuff you come up with.

that it's based on Monty Python.

These words resemble each other: Inquisitive, Inquisition
Nobody expected it.

:)

I'm afraid this one just flew pretty much over my head.

I would imagine quite a few popes over the years have been gay. Probably not too many of them vegetarians, however.

Objectively gay? WHOOSH!

would that be slander?

WTF?

I'm just trying to figure this thread out

However, that makes me realize that there is no particular reason to believe that Mel Gibson has any direct source of information about the Pope. Therefore, consider this new question:

Suppose that the Pope's physician were to claim that the Pope is gay. If the physician were unable to prove that the claim is true, then would the claim be considered to be legally defamation?

A key issue here is the concept of defamation.

Some people are claiming that a work of fiction about a married Jesus is offensive. On the other hand, if it were said that JFK died a virgin and that his wife had been impregnated by a sperm donor, then some of those same people might be offended.

with the Pope being a public figure and all, and Mel being a public figure and all

could be like Larry Flynt claiming Jerry Falwell had his first sexual encounter with his mother.

Falwell sued Flynt and lost. Falwell was a public figure. And I don't know the legalese on such things.

I'm not sure why he'd want to call the Pope gay in the first place. Isn't Mel a Catholic? I'm pretty sure he's not Jewish.

Another guess: there's nothing to stop the Pope's doctor from a public declaration that the Pope is gay, but there is a distinct possibility that there would be a serious consequence of so doing. If said doctor made said claim said doctor better have a fleet horse just outside the Vatican.

The Vatican is likely to have a powerful and experienced legal arm. I doubt if much escapes its notice.

Pope was straight also, but the Pope fell in love with Gibson's screen image in one or another of his roles in film.

Doesn't matter which role, but the Pope falls in love with the character Mel plays in a given film.

Then he meets Mel Gibson at a reception in Europe, say, and is appalled by the real-life Mel Gibson.

But then Mel Gibson's wife falls in love with the real-life Pope and the Pope renounces his vow of chastity and runs off with Mel's wife.

I haven't worked vegetarianism into the plot yet.

If you don't live in Hollywood, you missed your calling :)

sex-on-demand, and piles of cash.

No wonder Americans line up in movie ticket lines coast to coast. I like the independent festivals a lot better -- Redford's Sundance festival for example -- but now and then Hollywood does it right, too.

Joe Lieberman's objection to the debauchery of Hollywood in the late 90s and throughout the 2000 campaign didn't sit very well with me. It still rankles. For all its questionable taste, there are a lot of talented people making movies in Hollywood. I just can't write 'em all off.

in my opinion.

I'd start it out with Mel, in Khaki shorts & shades, at a patio meeting in Beverly Hills, sipping imported tea from Sri Lanka.

A gaggle of heavyweight investor/producer-types have been summoned to Mel's place, but they're drinking mimosas and bloody Marys. They're producers, for god's sake, and they begin their days with hi-balls.

The producer-types lolligag through the spiel, even though it's not going anywhere they can discern. They don't care. Their drinks are cold and they know they're around money.

Mel finally gets to the point. "I want to shoot a movie about the current Pope, and we get Martin Landau to play Benedict, and the thing is, see, he's gay. The Pope is gay. That's what the movie is about."

The producer-types stop sipping their mimosas and stare in blank stupefaction.

And so forth.

Boojatta, let's say, just for the sake of discussion, that no one can be "objectively" straight or gay. Let's say they can only be straight or gay, without the added layer of "objectively." Asking if someone can be "objectively" straight or gay is like tying one's shoes wearing an oven mitt.

Just my take.

If printed, then libel.

very nice man. Told that the Pope would object to his style of governance, Stalin was said to have replied, "How many divisions does the Pope have?"

The "Stalinist sense" of "objectivism" or "objectivity" to me is insubstantial bordering on unnecessary in the wake of Stalin's richly-deserved reputation as a tyrant and a butcher. That the Pope -- any Pope at all -- finds Stalin to be a remorselessly violent monster is not "objective." It's right-on analysis.

Mel Gibson hasn't called Benedict gay or vegetarian either one, so far as I know. If he called a press conference and claimed Benedict was both gay and vegetarian, my guess is that the Vatican legal arm would elect to ignore the claims. If Mel Gibson had evidence and photos of Benedict's same-sex trysts, one might ask into the source from which they were obtained. Who exactly that Mel knows also knows that information? Who in Mel's retinue or staff frequents the same vegetarian cafes or gay bars that Benedict frequents, and why hasn't anybody noticed this by now?

I think it would be a more explosive gossip item if Benedict called the press conference and claimed that Mel Gibson is gay. To start with, it would piss Mel off. It's always kind of fun when Mel throws a fit. He threatened the NYTimes' Frank Rich when Rich panned Mel's recent Jesus movie. I think Rich's phrase was that it was "a Christian snuff film." Mel said he'd like to jam a spear into Rich's guts, and also threatened Rich's dog.

Benedict could bolster his claim by insisting that Mel's fanatical vegetarian diet may even be the source of his fierce attractions to men. It is certainly not easy to picture a Pope wasting his time on Mel Gibson, but I set it before you for sheer entertainment value. If CNN can hire Bill Bennett and Nanci Grace, I can play pretend press conference with Mel Gibson and the Pope.