A United States federal appeals court on Tuesday threw out a defamation lawsuit that Evel Knievel and his wife brought against the cable television sports network ESPN for labelling the daredevil a ”pimp.”
The 66-year-old Knievel and his wife, Krystal, claimed a caption to a photograph posted on ESPN’s website damaged their reputations. The photo showed Knievel, his wife and an unidentified woman above the caption: ”Evel Knievel proves that you’re never too old to be a pimp.”
The Knievels said the display was defamatory because it implied the couple was involved in illegal prostitution. The lawsuit sought unspecified damages.
Knievel also claimed several companies he represents severed their professional ties because of the posting.
The San Francisco-based appeals court, ruling 2-1, agreed with ESPN that the caption and related material on the site was based on humour.
”Read in the context of the satirical, risqué and sophomoric slang found on the rest of the site, the word ‘pimp’ cannot be reasonably interpreted as a criminal accusation,” Judge A Wallace Tashima wrote for the majority.
In dissent, Judge Carlos Bea said the case should go before a jury because ”the word ‘pimp’ is reasonably susceptible to a defamatory meaning”.
Knievel became famous in the 1970s for riding his motorcycle over everything from vehicles to alligators while wearing a red-white-and-blue jumpsuit. — Sapa-AP