Clown wins award over drugs slur

A clown won a lawsuit against the South African edition of men’s magazine FHM after the publication printed his picture with a report likening jesters to cross-dressing drug addicts.

FHM used in its Dec 2007 issue a stock image of Puddles the Clown alongside an article branding clowns “grown men with long-term tik (drug) habits, dressed like transvestites from hell”.

The story defamed Puddles, whose real name is Norman Pudney, by portraying him in “a sensitive context” that associated him with substance abuse and an unstable mental condition, said documents.