system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How are periodicals like National Enquirer allowed to use headlines like "David Bowie Actually Died of HIV"? Isn't that defamation or slander?
gpt
In the US (and even in England under their old, *notoriously* pro-plaintiff libel law), the general rule is that you cannot be sued for defaming a dead person. Defamation law is to protect the reputation of the living; the dead don't have a right to their good name.