Gawker Can Call Joe Francis ‘Douche,’ But Can They Call Him ‘Rapist’?

When Gawker brought in the coming end of the decade by running a “douche of the decade” poll, the winner, Girls Gone Wild honcho Joe Francis, was not pleased. He didn’t especially object to the “douche” label, but to another, more loaded word they used to describe him: rapist. Francis’ back-and-forth with Gawker’s legal department is revealing in many ways, and raises the question of what, if anything, the gossip site can’t get away with: