According to the AP, Comedian Sunda Croonquist has cracked one too many jokes about her Jewish in-laws. The veteran comic is currently being sued by her mother-in-law who is accusing Croonquist of spreading false, defamatory and racist lies with in-law jokes that have become a staple of her routine in nightclubs and on television channels like Comedy Central.
It seems however, Croonquist' feelings about being sued over her jokes has her caught in-between angry and wanting to LOL.
There was a time when her in-laws would laugh with everyone else at the black-member-of-a-Jewish-family jokes, says Croonquist. “They played my tape at Passover one year, and they loved it!”
She also says: “It should be obvious to her in-laws, that she's not anti-Jewish. She converted to Judaism before she met her husband and keeps a kosher house.”
Attorney Gary L. Bostwick, an expert in First Amendment law who isn't involved in the case, said suing a comedian is often difficult because courts tend to rule that it should be obvious they are joking.
“Most people who sue under these kinds of circumstances are way too sensitive,” Bostwick said. “If they contact a lawyer like me I would tell them that, without seeing the script and the blog I have no idea who is right and who is wrong, but I do know there is a very strong defense: It's very difficult to prove that it was not just a joke.”
