Originally posted by Harold
[B]I don't actually know who either of these people are,




Can't you just use the names directly? I thought that part of the price of being a celebrity was that you're fair game for parody, etc. /B]
I think that "legally" it may be fair game to use a celebrity as an object of 'satire' -- using the term very loosely to describe using their personas in a sexual context.

But I think that it's in execrable taste. Celebrities have parents and spouses and lovers and children just like you do.

IMO, it's a cheap substitute for using one's imagination -- and what's worse it prevents the reader from using his/her imagination. If, for some inexplicable reason, the author really wants or needs to exploit the looks or personality of a specific individual, say a female tennis star, he or she can resort to a device such as using names like 'Lana Kournishevsy' or ''Athena and Sabrina Wilson' which allows everyone to make the desired associations, without overly invading the celebrity's privacy.

But it's still a bit silly, isn't it? We can already fantasize about celebrities if we're so inclined. My advice to authors would be to give us fantasies about people we don't know, that, at the moment, exist only in your own mind.

Happy New Year, everyone

Boccaccio