They say you can choose your friends, but not your mother-in-law. Sunda Croonquist is being sued by her mother-in-law for defaming her character in nightclubs and on channels like Comedy Central. Another ironic aspect to the story is that her husband's firm (he's an attorney) is defending her in the case. No comment is available from the husband/son.
Croonquist grew up in Paterson, NJ in a strict Roman Catholic upbringing with an interesting half-black, half-Swedish background. Naturally, with such a varied ancestry, she'd marry into a Jewish family.
I'm reminded of a Woody Allen comedy routine in which he goes into business with his family and ends up sending his grandmother to jail for fraud. He'd probably get a kick out of this situation. The lesson is: mothers-in-law hear everything and remember even more.
Here's what I don't understand: why didn't her mother-in-law simply yield the greatest weapon any Jewish mother has in her arsenal and guilt-trip the crap out of Ms. Croonquist? That usually works on me.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-26-2009 @ 10:25PM
kef said...
Can we see a clip?
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8-27-2009 @ 12:01AM
Anita said...
Almost every single comic complains about his/her spouse, mother-in-law, boss, or sibling, so it's par for the course. And, considering it's in the comic domain, I'm pretty certain this fits beneath the 'parody' clause. I'm wondering if they ever actually asked her to take down the web information before going to court.
Also, evidently they're suing because the site contains info allowing "anyone to figure out the identities of her in-laws." Um, people could just google that or go to the local courthouse. And, how do you explain to your kids why gramma's suing mommy?
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8-27-2009 @ 9:31AM
rick cokely said...
You can't sue for defamation when the supposed defamation is satire.
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