Nov 05, 2022 18:00:00

``Parody works by deceiving people'' ``It should not be prosecuted even if you joke with a straight face,'' the long-established satirical site The Onion claims in court documents

In 2016, a man living in Ohio, USA, was arrested for opening a ``fake Facebook page that pretended to be a local police station'' and making a satirical post. Ultimately, the man was not prosecuted, but he is about to file a lawsuit seeking damages against the police. In order to support this man,

The Onion , an American parody news media, has submitted a court document defending men and parody.

Area Man Is Arrested for Parody. The Onion Files a Supreme Court Brief. - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/04/us/the-onion-supreme-court.html

Parma police fake Facebook page: Man arrested for parody Parma police page asks Supreme Court to re-instate lawsuit
https://fox8.com/news/man-arrested-for-parody-parma-police-page-asks-supreme-court-to-re-instate-lawsuit/

In March 2016, Mr. Anthony Novak, who lives in Perm City in northeastern Ohio, created a fake page on Facebook that pretended to be the Perm Police Department. This fake page has a satirical slogan, 'We don't commit crimes,' and said that it was intended to satirize the police, not to deceive residents.

On this Facebook page, Novak said, 'We have banned residents from feeding the homeless to drive them away,' 'We urge minorities not to apply for employment exams,' and 'We welcome child sex offenders as honorary police officers.' I made a post that included a joke. Residents complained about this, so Mr. Novak was arrested for interfering with the police using electronic devices and spent four days in detention. In addition, Mr. Novak was acquitted at the trial, and he was not guilty and sentenced.

Novak filed a lawsuit seeking damages, alleging that his arrest was a violation of civil rights. In early 2022, a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit as having police immunity, but Novak is appealing to the Supreme Court for a trial.

Mr. Novak's lawyer, Patrick Jaicomo, said he contacted Jordan LaFlure, editor-in-chief of The Onion, about the matter and asked for help to draw attention to the case. Jaicomo said, 'When they heard about Mr. Novak, they thought, 'Oh, if someone is in trouble because of my story, all of our employees may be in a crossfire.' ' said.

And The Onion worked with multiple attorneys and writers to prepare the

court documents . The contents include jokes such as ``The Onion employs 350,000 people and is read by 4.3 trillion people,'' and although it is a court document, it is full of playfulness.

However, The Onion has 'watered down parody, a form of rhetoric that has been around for thousands of years and is particularly powerful in political discourse, and is incidentally a source of compensation for The Onion's writers.' Before the judgment, The Onion can not be silent, 'he declared and defended Mr. Novak and parody.

The city of Perm claims that the Facebook page created by Mr. Novak is genuine, and that it exceeds the limit of ``imitation'', such as copying the warning message posted by the official page as it is. . The Onion responded by headlining the court documents, saying, 'Parody works by tricking people into thinking it's real.' It's clear,' he said, explaining that The Onion's article also mimics the style of the actual media.

'One of the things they were saying is, if you're a comedy writer, don't tell a joke before you tell it,' said Andrew Portinga, an attorney who worked with The Onion to prepare the court documents. It is.'