March 02, 2005

What a drag

You know, I'm ordinarily not a big fan of PETA's. They're extremists and I think they often do more harm than good for their cause. At any rate, I gotta side with them on this one...

From today's Page Six:

March 2, 2005 -- Star Jones Reynolds is worried that the public won't be able to tell the difference between her and drag queen Flotilla DeBarge.

After PAGE SIX revealed that PETA had hired DeBarge to parody the fur-loving Reynolds in a new ad campaign, the corpulent co-host of "The View" sicced her lawyers on the animal-rights organization.

In a humorless letter to PETA, Jones' lawyers wrote: "While the First Amendment . . . protects legitimate parody, [it] does not sanction the misappropriation of a person's identity for purposes of trade or advertising . . . Thus, PETA does not have the right to use an impersonator . . . As you prepare your advertisements, we urge you to keep this distinction in mind."

But the lawyers are insulting Star, because their argument only makes sense if the public could actually mistake DeBarge for her. They seem to be saying their client resembles an overweight, 6-foot-tall drag queen.

Hey, if the size 12 red sequined pump fits...