Feche v. Viacom International, Inc.

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Carol Arber, J.), entered July 17, 1995, which, inter alia, granted defendants’ motion to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a cause of action, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

We agree with the IAS Court that the remark, "whores”, made by defendant "Kennedy” during a segment produced and broadcast by the other defendants, was not " 'of and concerning’ ” plaintiffs, and is therefore nonactionable as libel (Springer v Viking Press, 60 NY2d 916 , 917). An average viewer would not, taking into account the context in which the remark was uttered, perceive that "Kennedy” was making a factual statement about plaintiffs, but rather was indulging in hyperbole and protected opinion about the fictional characters that plaintiffs were portraying (see, Greenbelt Publ. Assn. v Bresler, 398 US 6 ; Immuno AG. v Moor-Jankowski, 77 NY2d 235 , cert denied 500 US 954 ; Pring v Penthouse Intl., 695 F2d 438 , cert denied 462 US 1132 ). Concur—Wallach, J. P., Rubin, Nardelli, Williams and Andrias, JJ.