Would you print this quote?

"Everyone in Hollywood is exactly as I thought they'd be. There is an incredible amount of backstabbing. I mean, you could understand, if you were a religious person actually, that Satan had come to Earth and he was Stephen Spielberg in disguise."

-Peter Molyneux, Game Informer, Issue 131 (March 2004)



The emphasis in the above quote is added by me, although upon reflection I think it's hardly neccesary. While this quote isn't really libelous (not by a long shot), it's still not the kind of thing you print lightly about a major public figure. If I were Spielberg's publicist, I'd be fuming right now, and probably rightly so.



Of course, context is important here. The quote itself is buried on page five of an unsigned eight-page preview of Molyneux's The Movies, and, to be fair, there is the impression as you read that Molyneux is speaking half-jokingly. The author introduces the quote: "Amusingly, Molyneux himself went out to Hollywood and was proud to say that his game was right on track." Apparently he didn't like what he saw:



"They do the most terrible things... unfogivable things, and yet they are still stars. If they were politicians or businessmen or anything else, they'd probably be thrown in jail."



"We may think we [the video game industry] are near Hollywood but... our equivalent of cocaine and class-A drugs is pizza and Coca-Cola... When they have an industry party, they are people doing the most unspeakable things all over the place. It is everything you'd expect it to be."



These quotes do serve a purpose in the article by illustrating the kinds of stereotypes that Molyneux will be recreating in the game. And making broad generalizations about a sleazy, drug-obsessed Hollywood isn't exactly going to raise anyones ire. But should you think twice before printing possibly defamtory statements (even half-joking defamatory statements) about specific people?



I framed that last statement as a question because I want to know what you guys think of all this. Was this just a colorful quote that's nothing to get worked up over? Is this the kind of thing an editor should have cut out before in made it to print? Should GI not be held culpable because they were just reprinting what Molyneux said? I have my own feelings, but I'd like to hear from the readers first on this one. Feel free to post your comments below (especially if you wrote the article).