In May of last year, New York Councilman John Liu, along with several other city officials, publicly denounced a series of on-air comments made by DJ Star of WWPR-FM, also known as Power 105, a popular hip-hop radio station in New York City. Star aimed a barrage of abrasive and sexually charged threats at Envy's 4-year-old daughter. Star also described DJ Envy's wife, who is part Asian, with varying degrees of derisiveness as a "gook" and "slant-eyed whore."
Councilman Liu decried the popular DJ as a "pedophile" and lunatic," who deserved to be "terminated from the face of the earth."
Liu's efforts succeeded in having Star, whose real name is Troi Torain, quickly dismissed from his position at Power 105, which is owned by communications giant Clear Channel. Torain countered with a $55 million defamation lawsuit against Liu, alleging that his reputation was permanently damaged by Liu's labeling of him as a "pedophile."
On Aug. 17, U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels threw out the lawsuit brought against Liu, stating that "no reasonable person would have believed [Liu] was conveying a fact about [Torain] ? rather than [Liu's] opinion." Torain, meanwhile, received 75 hours of community service. (Source: Rex Feng, AsianWeek, Sep 02, 2007).