Blake Shelton's Libel Claim Against In Touch Weekly Backed by Judge

Blake Shelton's Libel Claim Against In Touch Weekly Backed by Judge

  

Blake Shelton performs onstage during the 51st Academy of Country 

Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena on April 3, 2016 in Las Vegas.

The feature's headline "The Real Story: Rehab for Blake" in itself supports a libel claim, the judge says. 

 

In Touch Weekly's story claiming Blake Shelton has a drinking problem isn't protected speech, according to a federal judge's Monday ruling.

In September, Shelton's face was on the cover of In Touch with bold yellow letters reading "rehab for Blake," which prompted the country star to sue the publisher for defamation in October.
Judge Christina A. Snyder on Monday denied the magazine's motion to strike the singer's suit under California's anti-SLAPP statute and found the headline alone supports a libel claim.

In Touch argued that the claim Shelton was seeking rehab couldn't be libel because "it would be entirely commendable for Shelton to seek rehab considering his undisputed history of bragging about his own drunkenness and his well-publicized behavior while under the influence of alcohol.”
Snyder doesn't see it that way.

"No courts appear to have held that defamation claims premised upon false reports of treatment in rehabilitation must fail, as a matter of law," Snyder writes. "This Court accordingly declines to be the first."
Snyder also rejected In Touch's claim that Shelton is "libel proof" because he posts about drinking on social media.