In the Ninth Circuit's Knievel v. ESPN, motorcycle stunt legend Evel Knievel and his wife Krystal sued the sports network for defamation. The Knievels alleged they were defamed when EXPN.com posted a picture of Krystal, Evel and another woman, bearing the caption, "Evel Knievel proves that you're never too old to be a pimp."

The trio was photographed in the Green Carpet Gallery of ESPN's radical Action Sports and Music Awards ceremony, "at which celebrities in the fields of extreme sports and popular music such as rap and heavy metal converged." In the picture at issue, Knievel "has one arm around each woman and he wears rose-tinted sunglasses and a motorcycle jacket."

In defamation cases, the context of the stinging remark is very important, and the Court's majority analysis focused heavily upon this factor. As it turns out, the offending photo appeared in a series of 17 Green Carpet Gallery photos. In order to see Knievel's mack pose, web users had to first click through ten other celeb photos with silly fabricated captions, such as a pic of two men grasping hands, with a caption that reads "Colin McKay and Cary Hart share the love," or a woman in a black dress, with the caption "Tara Dakides lookin' sexy, even though we all know she is hardcore."

As the Court concluded, "Read in the context of the satirical, risque, and sophomoric slang found on the rest of the site, the word "pimp" cannot be reasonably interpreted as a criminal accusation." Dismissal of the action was affirmed, and the Knievels will not get their day in court.

Unfortunately, the Knievels suffered real damages as a result of the publicity stunt, such as a bruised reputation and having to endure "hatred, contempt, ridicule and obloquy that caused them to be shunned and avoided." Also, several of Evel's former clients do not want him associated with their product.

This is a shame because Evel Knievel has given a lot to the public over the years. Evel has performed amazing death-defying feats, like jumping over 14 Greyhound buses, so I remain confident that he can and will overcome this setback.

Finally, as evident in this case (and as I've discussed in previous posts), younger generations have romanticized and enshrined the art of pimping. Unfortunately, most elders do not appreciate modern art.