The Region - News from July 26, 1985

When comic Robin Williams ripped into Rege brand wines during a videotaped comedy performance, the owner of Rege Cellars was not laughing. Instead, he sued, but a state Court of Appeal dismissed the suit, saying “figments of a comic’s imagination” are protected by the First Amendment. David Rege accused Williams, Polygram Records Inc., Home Box Office and other firms of defamation and “trade libel” through a joke in which Williams spoofed wine snobbery by suggesting Rege wine was a black wine “tough enough” to be advertised by football player Mean Joe Green. According to Appeal Court Judge J. Anthony Kline, the basis for Rege’s suit was that Williams’ joke associates Rege brand wines with blacks, allegedly “a socioeconomic group of persons commonly considered to be the antithesis of wine connoisseurs.” Kline called Rege’s argument “completely untenable.”