Is it OK to mention real celebrities by name?

[VittoVolterra]

I'm wondering if would get in trouble for a scene in which my female protagonist boasts of having bedded a certain unlikely male celebrity.

The scene is not written out. It's just backstory. But a few salacious details are given. It's also not clear whether the woman's tale is actually true, as she's not an entirely trustworthy character.

Would this be considered libel? Or against the site's rules? I realize there's actually a Celebrities section here, so I'm guessing it's OK. But this story isn't a fanfic and isn't going to be posted to the Celebrities section, so I just thought I'd ask if anyone knew for sure what's the policy for this sort of thing.

 

[briacon429]

I would tread carefully there.

Mentioning them in passing is usually fine, especially if it’s just a pop culture reference. (I’ve made plenty of passing mentions like that in my own stories!) I’m assuming you’re in the U.S., in which case that stuff is pretty much protected by the First Amendment.

It gets tricky when you’re actually using a real person as part of the plot and/ or painting an unflattering picture of them. At that point, they may be able to argue that you’re misappropriating their image, or worse yet, libeling them. In most cases they’d have a hard time winning in court (thanks again to the First Amendment) but their attorneys can still try to make things very unpleasant. So I would err on the side of caution and find some other way to make the story work... maybe use a fictional celebrity instead of a real one?

 

[ElectricBlue]

You're writing fiction. Write a fictional celebrity.

Just because someone's famous, it doesn't automatically follow that they're fair game for someone to salaciously use in a bit of smut.

 

[ChloeTzang]

I've read plenty of fiction where they have a different name but from the character description you can draw your own conclusions as to who they're talking about.

 

[lovecraft68]

Even though he's not a real celebrity the character of Christian Grey unfortunately has way too much celebrity.

I wrote a version of him in one of my erotic horror novels. "Tristan Black" and some of he ways I described him if anyone knew Grey they'd know this is who Black was supposed to be. I proceeded to have my female lead brutally beat him then later torture him.

In the end I did this for myself as I highly doubt anyone who is the type to read fifty shades-and like it-wouldn't be caught dead near one of my books. All that real life BDSM and a female character who isn't a simpering imbecile tends to turn the fifty shades crowd off.

 

[KenNicottii]

Huh? I see a whole category dedicated to Celebrity & Fan Fiction on Lit. Never have read any of that, but it seems like a relatively popular topic w/ 10K stories (same number as NonHuman, twice as many as Anal and 3 times as many as Erotic Horror).

 

[sr71plt]

Yes, you can name real celebrities--and you don't necessarily have to put the story in the celebrities section (depending on how the celebrity is treated).

I have Rock Hudson in one of my stories, "The Lighthouse Keeper" (https://www.literotica.com/s/the-lighthouse-keeper-2), which is posted to the Gay Male category.

 

[gunhilltrain]

First of all this site is "non-profit," so it's not going to get the same kind of legal scrutiny that a regular publishing outfit is going to get.

Anyway, I believe American publishing law is quite open about obviously fictional depictions of people who are public figures - especially when it in comes to comedy and satire. British law is somewhat tighter I believe.

One American case did go all the way to the Supreme Court, Hustler Magazine and Larry C. Flynt, Petitioners v. Jerry Falwell, 1988. Holding: "Parodies of public figures which could not reasonably be taken as true are protected against civil liability by the First Amendment, even if intended to cause emotional distress."