Will The Real Slim Shady Please Rise
Today I start my 14th year of teaching a media law class at the University of Cincinnati Law School. Where does the time go? One of the cases we will be discussing is Elonis v. Facebook. It’s a case that is going to be argued in the U.S. Supreme Court this fall.
I posted about it in June. The question is whether a Facebook user can be prosecuted for posting threatening language on his page. In his recently filed brief, Elonis compares his post to Eminem’s lyrics in “I’m Back” from the Marshall Mathers LP. Here’s an interesting discussion about the brief.
Elonis may have a little problem with the context of his post. Whatever Eminem had to say in his songs, it doesn’t appear he was engaged in a contentious custody battle or that he’s had the FBI come knocking on his door.
It will be interesting to see how the Supreme Court comes out. But I can’t get the image of Justice Scalia listening to “The Real Slim Shady” out of my head.