Line #139 Main/MaliciousSlander


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10	[[quoteright:278:[[ComicBook/SpiderMan https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/threat_or_menace.png]]]]
11	[[caption-width-right:278:"[[Film/SpiderMan1 It is not slander! I resent that!]] [[ExactWords Slander is spoken! In print, it's libel]]." ]]
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13	->''"A lie can run halfway round the world before the truth has got its boots on."''
14	-->-- '''Creator/MarkTwain ([[BeamMeUpScotty Allegedly]]) '''
15
16	Rumor, gossip, tale-bearing. Ever present whenever people talk, and sometimes [[AbominationAccusationAttack truly vile]]. And when they are malicious tales about TheHero, they are an unbounded source of problems for him.
17
18	Except in unusual cases, we already know in advance that the tales are false, usually by seeing the true events, or seeing his POV during them so we know his true motives so that the InfallibleBabble effect is undermined. We just get to see the character wrestle with -- and suffer under -- them.
19
20	Sometimes the original slanderer can be identified (and sometimes punished), but often enough the hero has to deal with [[ConvictedByPublicOpinion a cloud of unidentifiable nastiness]]. Who is acting out of malice, and who out of carelessness or indifference to the truth -- or even desire to warn -- may be ambiguous. It makes being arrested look easy: there, you can get through the trial and be acquitted. And often crucial people are really gullible.
21
22	The HeroWithBadPublicity often lives in a cloud of this. WoundedGazelleGambit is one way of launching them. GossipyHens are always launching or spreading them -- with or without malice. The GreenEyedMonster often inspires slander, TheResenter, NoHeroToHisValet and SomebodyDoesntLoveRaymond will always agree on slanders, and [[BelievingTheirOwnLies the envious person may even believe his own slanders]]. The DecadentCourt is rife with it, but even there, the EvilChancellor is particularly prone to it. In many situations, this helps fuel DividedWeFall. GossipEvolution doesn't exactly help the situation for any of these. The PropagandaMachine often churns it out. Children are often the butts of the subtrope LoserSonOfLoserDad. TorchesAndPitchforks are often stirred up with malicious slander.
23
24	When spread intentionally, like in InsidiousRumorMill, the slanderer often acts with [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster-like]] precision. Frequently he will tell the entire truth with only a few crucial omissions or alter the import of facts by subtle misrepresentations -- knowing that GossipEvolution will turn the hints into full-blown lies.
25
26	Compare ShroudedInMyth for another problem the hero can have with rumors. See also BearerOfBadNews, who may be accused of this, and PropagandaPiece. A SuccessThroughSexAccusation can potentially be this.
27
28	No RealLife examples -- suffice to say that ''all'' propaganda contains elements of this, but to what extent is highly debatable. Too much chance of FlameBait -- besides which, we don't want ''this'' to be a SelfDemonstratingArticle. We should note that this trope is not exactly the same as malicious slander/libel/defamation in strictly legal terms; in the law of defamation, "malice" means (in most jurisdictions, including, most importantly,[[note]]In legal terms: besides being the law applying most directly to Website/ThisVeryWiki, American law is the one that gets the most mileage out of the concept of "malice"[[/note]] the United States) publishing/disseminating false information about another either ''knowing'' that the information is false (i.e., saying things you know are not true), or ''recklessly disregarding the possibility'' that it is false (i.e. saying things that might or might not be true but which you have no basis for saying, and if they happen to be true, it's an accident). The above standard, commonly known as "actual malice", comes from the 1964 Supreme Court case ''New York Times v. Sullivan'' [[note]]376 U.S. 254 (1964), the case revolved around an ad taken out in the Times by UsefulNotes/MartinLutherKingJr that the police commissioner of Montgomery, Alabama, noted had factual inaccuracies. He sued the Times for taking the ad, Alabama courts found in favor of Sullivan, and the Times appealed the ruling up to the Supreme Court, which overturned the lower courts' verdict in a 9-0 decision, noting that the civil penalty was inconsistent with the First Amendment.[[/note]] and applies mostly to public figures, such as politicians and celebrities. It's why it is extremely hard for a celebrity to win a libel suit in America -- one of the few successful suits was one filed by Creator/CarolBurnett against the ''National Enquirer'' for falsely claiming she had been drinking heavily with Henry Kissinger in 1976. While malice is important in suits against non-public figures, more weight is given to the falsity of the statement and the effect it has on the defamed's reputation. Simply repeating something you heard doesn't generally count, so in general terms, ordinary town gossip isn't going to get you very far in a slander/libel/defamation suit.[[note]]This can be important, as it can govern liability (depending on where you are and who is suing who, someone suing someone else for defamation/libel/slander may need to prove malice, and, generally speaking, punitive damages, if they are available at all, would only be available if the defamer spoke/wrote with malice).[[/note]] However, mere gossip can be enough to be this trope. Please note, however, that TV Tropes is '''not''' legal advice and so still proceed with caution.
29
30	[[noreallife]]
31	----
32	!!Examples:
33	[[index]]
34	* MaliciousSlander/AnimeAndManga
35	* MaliciousSlander/FanWorks
36	* MaliciousSlander/{{Literature}}
37	* MaliciousSlander/VideoGames
38	[[/index]]
39
40	[[foldercontrol]]
41
42	[[folder:Ballads]]
43	* In the Literature/{{Child Ballad\|s}} ''Literature/SirAldingar'', when the queen rebuffs the title knight, he puts a leper in her bed and accuses her of adultery to the king.
44	* In ''Literature/TheLordOfLornAndTheFalseSteward'', when the young lord improbably shows up again the service of the duke, the steward posing as him tries slander. It doesn't dislodge him.
45	-->''"Will you beleeue me, lady faire,\
46	When the truth I doe tell yee?\
47	Att Aberdonie, beyond the sea,\
48	His father he robbed a hundred three."''
49	[[/folder]]
50
51	[[folder:Comic Books]]
52	* ComicBook/HowardTheDuck's enemy Doctor Bong got his start this way. After his mother told him how powerful written word could be, he was able to use slanderous writing to make anyone look bad. (For instance, he was able to make his entire school believe a teacher was some immoral drug fiend, when in fact, said teacher had used an illegal stimulant once in his life.) Exactly how he made the jump from "sleazy teen paparazzi" to "MadScientist with a knack for genetics and sonic weapons" is a mystery.
53	* A sizable chunk of the drek ComicBook/SpiderMan deals with can be blamed on J. Jonah Jameson's blatant libel in the ''Daily Bugle''. He actually once took them to court over it, but unfortunately, his overenthusiastic lawyer then included Peter Parker in the suit.
54	** Spidey's not the only one who has to deal with this. In ''ComicBook/MsMarvel1977'', Carol Danvers is hired by ol' J.J. as the editor of "Woman", and he expects her first issue to be an attack piece on Ms. Marvel, getting pretty irate when Carol doesn't do this (and not just because Carol ''is'' actually Ms. Marvel, since she doesn't actually know that).
55	* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': The Earth Two ComicBook/{{Huntress}} (Helena Wayne) has her very own crooked reporter who insists on twisting the facts and outright lying to try and make Huntress seem like an out of control murderer in a cape despite Helena's very strict no killing or even seriously maiming rule. At one point Dedra Borrower blatantly misquotes a medical examiner on television. She turns to the camera and tells her viewers ''There you ''have'' it. A man's death due to the unchecked violence of an unsanctioned vigilante''.
56	[[/folder]]
57
58	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
59	* In one series of ''ComicStrip/BloomCounty'' strips, poor Opus was accused of committing "penguin lust" by Bill the Cat (who had become a televangelical scam artist who called himself "Fundamentally Oral Bill"). Despite never even telling anyone just what "penguin lust" was, Opus became a pariah because of it (so much that the public library revoked his card) and was eventually driven out of Bloom County - until, that is, everyone got bored of Bill and stopped listening. Of course, by then, finding Opus and telling him he could come back was a challenge.
60	[[/folder]]
61
62	[[folder:Fairy Tales]]
63	* In '' Literature/TheDancingWaterTheSingingAppleAndTheSpeakingBird'', when the heroine gives birth to three {{Wonder Child}}ren, her sisters steal them and tell her husband that she gave birth to three puppies. He puts her in a treadmill as punishment for not having the children as she claimed she would.
64	* In ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/asbjornsenmoe/dapplegrim.html Dapplegrim]]'', the king orders the hero to perform many [[ImpossibleTask tasks]] because his fellow servants falsely claimed he said he could do them.
65	* In ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/jackbeanstalk/stories/esbenwitch.html Esben and the Witch]]'', an enemy of Esben and his brothers is always telling the king that they claimed to be able to do this or that, and then the king orders them to do it.
66	* In ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/126ferdinandfaithful.html Ferdinand the Faithful]]'', after being slandered, Ferdinand must get a bride for the king and then all the things she demands before she will marry him.
67	* In ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/armlessmaiden/index.html The Girl Without Hands]]'', the Devil intercepts the letter telling the king of the birth of his son, and changes it to say that it was a monster (in Creator/TheBrothersGrimm's first edition, it had been the king's mother who did it). Doesn't work, actually; the king says she is to be treated kindly, and so he intercepts again to order her and the child's deaths.
68	* In ''Literature/TheGratefulBeasts'', Ferko's brothers tell the king that he is a magician, and the king orders Ferko to perform three [[ImpossibleTask tasks]] in atonement; his own daughter the princess argues with him until he imprisons her in a tower.
69	* In ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/3ourladyschild.html Mary's Child]]'', the heroine's children are taken from her, and rumor says that she killed and ate them.
70	* ''Literature/TheOneHandedGirl'':
71	** The heroine's sister-in-law tells her brother that the heroine had refused to sell her a pumpkin, which she sold to others, when in fact the heroine had given her one as a gift and had then run out.
72	** The heroine's brother tells the king and queen that her hand had been chopped off because she was a witch, getting her driven off.
73	* In ''Literature/TheSixSwans'', the king's mother kidnaps the heroine's newborn children and tells the king she killed them until he agrees to her execution.
74	* In ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/96threelittlebirds.html The Three Little Birds]]'', when the heroine's sisters steal her children and tell the king that she gave birth to animals, he puts up with it twice and the third time throws his wife in prison.
75	[[/folder]]
76	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
77	* ''Film/BemBom'': Laura becomes the subject of a nasty rumor that she landed in the hospital from engaging in violent intercourse with a famous football player who she's never met in her life. The media have a field day at her expense and her band's reputation is undermined. The whole thing destroys her romantic relationship with Jota and nearly leads her to quit the band.
78	* ''Film/BigEyes'': Before the court date, Walter lies to the press about how Margaret needs psychiatric help and insists she's a bad mother for joining the Jehovah's Witnesses, implying that she's giving her daughter a poor upbringing because of it.
79	* ''[[Film/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe]]'': Jadis tells Tumnus, who is imprisoned next to Edmund, that he is here because Edmund betrayed him. While Edmund did provide Jadis the information that Tumnus helped Lucy, this was not betrayal as he said it very casually and had no idea this was sensitive information. It didn't matter anyway to Jadis as she used it to successfully break Tumnus's spirit.
80	* ''Film/{{Doubt}}'': The plot revolves around a priest accused of misconduct with a young boy. No hard evidence is discovered to either prove or disprove the charge, fueled entirely by rumors, suspicions, and one nun's conviction of their truth. The priest himself makes a sermon condemning gossip and rumor-mongering, pointing out that even if the rumor is proved to be false it can never be unsaid. [[spoiler:Eventually, the implication is that he ''was'' guilty, as he agrees to a transfer and coverup once the nun leading the attack reveals that she managed to track down a nun from his last posting who could corroborate the story...except she later reveals that she had never managed to find the old nun at all.]]
81	* ''Film/EnemyOfTheState'': The bad guys' plot involves slandering Creator/WillSmith's character by planting a false story about him having an affair and being involved with organized crime in the news. The story causes his massively-gullible bosses to fire him and his wife (who up to that point had been a good, caring person despite her own affair in the past) to throw him out of the house.
82	* ''Film/FirstGirlILoved'': Sasha, under pressure from her mother, claims Anne forcefully kissed her (she actually had initiated it) when a photo surfaces. Her mother threatens to call the police if the photo isn't removed from their yearbook.
83	* ''Film/Fury1936'': The main character is arrested because "he seems to know suspiciously too much about a kidnapping". The rumor quickly morphs into him being the kidnapper, and before you know it an [[TorchesAndPitchforks Angry Mob]] storms the prison, sets fire to it and he barely escapes being burned alive.
84	* ''Film/GoldThroughTheFire'': A lot of false claims are made against Peter in court, saying he had forced his religion on others and harassed them.
85	* The film ''Film/{{Gossip}}'' centers around three roommates who knowingly start a malicious rumor about a classmate in order to track how it spreads and changes for a Communications class.
86	* ''Film/GuyanaCrimeOfTheCentury'': This is how Johnson and his inner circle view the letters sent to Secretary of State by the concerned 75+ relatives of the people who live in Johnsontown and aren't allowed to leave (and many such relatives think that there are concentration camps for forced labour and punishments.
87	* ''Film/TheHunt2012'': Lucas is [[FalseRapeAccusation wrongly accused]] of being a child molester which quickly ruins his reputation in the CloseKnitCommunity and sets off a nasty PaedoHunt.
88	* ''Film/LittleNicky'': Nicodemus (AKA Little Nicky) is framed for murdering a bunch of people in a five-star restaurant. The massacre wasn't even real. The film is so hideously doctored that a demon behind the times gets the reference:
89	-->Nicky: What the heck?! That's just my face plastered in that scene from Scarface!
90	* Seen in ''Film/MrDeeds'', when a sensationalist news anchor doctors footage of a rescue to make it look like the rescuer [[AndYourLittleDogToo killed a woman's cats]] before raping her in the street. Why do this with a street full of witnesses (including the aforementioned woman) to testify otherwise? Because as far as news stories went the anchor reasoned "Hero is nice. Depraved and insane is better".
91	%%* ''Film/TheRunningMan'' has the main character subjected to this.
92	[[/folder]]
93
94	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
95	* ''Series/DowntonAbbey'' has this as the driving force behind some of the conflicts, especially when O'Brien and Thomas Barrow are involved.
96	* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Tyrion Lannister is often on the wrong end of it. Littlefinger claims that the dagger found on Bran's would-be assassin belonged to Tyrion, starting a conflict that eventually snowballs into the War of the Five Kings.
97	* ''Series/LittleHouseOnThePrairie'': Mrs. Oleson's favorite activity was spreading gossip, and more than once, it crossed the line into malicious gossip big time … especially when her targets were Charles Ingalls and his family, particularly adopted son Albert. Prime examples included a story she printed in the town's newspaper that claimed Charles had snuck around and fathered Albert out of wedlock and, a few seasons later, spun a rumor where Albert got a local girl pregnant.
98	%%* ''Series/{{Scandal}}'': The fear of the heroine's clients.
99	* The ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' episode "[[Recap/SherlockS02E03TheReichenbachFall The Reichenbach Fall]]" revolves around [[spoiler:Moriarty gradually destroying Sherlock's credibility, eventually leading the police to suspect that he made every case up just so he would look good when he "solved" them, and ending heartbreakingly with Sherlock's apparent suicide]]. [[WhamEpisode Quite the]] [[TearJerker depressing episode]].
100	* ''Series/TheSociety'': Campbell, Harry, Lexie and the Guard all make up a story that Allie plotted to steal the election, which results in them arresting her on this supposed charge. Harry and Lexie are placed in charge as co-mayors, with Campbell running things behind the scenes.
101	* In ''Series/WolfHall'', this is how Anne Boleyn gets disgraced, mainly at the hands of her sister-in-law Lady Jane Rochford--she accuses her husband of having an incestuous affair with Anne, and Thomas Cromwell works up a rationalization to make it plausible for the court.
102	* The infamous ''Series/WonderWoman2011Pilot'' has it to where Wonder Woman has a press conference to accuse a rival businesswoman of illegally selling steroids with bad side effects, then openly admits she has no proof to back up this claim. Made even worse is the fact she admitted to committing a crime to stop a crime she can't even prove was committed. But thanks to being LovedByAll she gets away with this without any legal troubles.
103	[[/folder]]
104
105	[[folder:Music]]
106	* Music/{{Qbomb}}: Part of the story of ''HYPERPUNK''. Early on, the singer's band becomes the subject of conflicting rumors, gossip, and "constant toxic shit" that he can't stop. Against his better judgment, he lashes back in an equally aggressive manner. Since he can't put a stop to the lies, he has a CreatorBreakdown[[invoked]] and decides to [[DisproportionateRetribution take revenge on everyone]] by [[OmnicidalManiac destroying all of Earth with a giant robot]].
107	[[/folder]]
108
109	[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
110	* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genevieve_of_Brabant Genevieve of Brabant]], the wife of palatine count Siegfried of Treves, was accused of adultery by a rebuffed would-be lover and had to live in the woods with her son (She had actually been put on death row, but the executioner took pity on her and let her go). Fortunately, she had magical help from a magical roe deer, who helped FallenPrincess Genevieve get food while residing in a cavern. When her husband finds out about the deceit, he goes to search for Genevieve and their kid, and thanks to the roe, he finds them and asks for forgiveness. It's apparently based on the real-life story of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_of_Brabant Marie of Brabant]], only that Marie wasn't as lucky as Genevieve and ''did'' end up executed.
111	* TheDevil roughly translates into "The Slanderer", as opposed to Satan, which is merely "one who opposes".
112	* In Literature/TheBible, Potiphar's wife accuses Joseph of raping her after he refuses to sleep with her. This continues the chain of events that led him to become Pharaoh's advisor.
113	** Also, Jesus warns His followers that they will be subjected to slander, among other forms of persecution. He also tells them to count it as a blessing.
114	* In the Literature/BookOfNehemiah, when the wall surrounding Jerusalem was near completion, Sanballat and Geshem try to lure Nehemiah away from his work to have "a little chat", and Nehemiah keeps telling them that he's busy and can't answer their summons. They get to the point of deciding to spread some of this about Nehemiah, that he was planning a rebellion against the king by declaring himself to be king and that he has set up prophets to make the proclamation. Nehemiah responds that he isn't and that they're just making stuff up about him to discourage him and his workers.
115	[[/folder]]
116
117	[[folder:Radio]]
118	* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': In "April Fools' Day", Miss Enright writes to a romance columnist using Miss Brooks' initials. She plans to use it to humiliate Miss Brooks in front of Mr. Conklin and his dinner guests.
119	[[/folder]]
120
121	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
122	* ''TabletopGame/PsionicsTheNextStageInHumanEvolution''
123	** This tends to happen to espers who turn down or resist a recruitment offer. Did you refuse an offer from The Shop and manage to escape from their agents? In the process, did some of their stray bullets hit passers-by? Now your face, name, and whereabouts are plastered all over the news and you’re wanted by the FBI in connection with a terrorist attack.
124	** Every conspiracy will maliciously slander espers from other conspiracies.
125	** Eschaton paints all espers as demon-possessed abominations. Their own espers are no exception.
126	[[/folder]]
127
128	[[folder:Theater]]
129	* Used as the main plot device in ''Theatre/TheChildrensHour''. At a 1930s all-girls school, a bratty girl mad at her teachers conjures up a lie about them being lesbian lovers. Considering one of them was engaged, and this was the early thirties, it single-handedly ruined their lives.
130	* Accusations of witchcraft in ''Theatre/TheCrucible'' drive the plot, causing the deaths of many innocent people.
131	* In ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', Hamlet says to Ophelia "Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny." And Hamlet tests the ghost's words; he appears to fear that the ghost slandered his uncle and mother.
132	** RuleOfSymbolism: The older king Hamlet was poisoned by Claudius ''Through the ear''! That could very well symbolize the power of malicious slander. In that respect, the trope guides the entire play, because each character is taught to mistrust one another (apart from Horatio, that is).
133	* In Music/RichardWagner's version of ''Lohengrin'', female lead Elsa is falsely accused of killing her little brother Gottfried, the child-Duke of Brabant [[spoiler:(who had actually been turned into a swan by the {{Evil Sorcere\|r}}ss Ortrud.]] Then the eponymous KnightInShiningArmor comes to her rescue.
134	* Iago does this to Desdemona in ''Theatre/{{Othello}}''.
135	* This happens to Elphaba in Act 2 of ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'' when the Wizard gets his press-machine up to full steam to demonise her as an enemy of the state.
136	* In Aleksandr Griboyedov's ''Woe from Wit'', Sofia (the female lead) spreads a classic piece of MaliciousSlander during a ball by hinting that Chatsky, the main character, has gone insane. It's a critical part of the denouement.
137	[[/folder]]
138
139	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
140	* Invoked in ''VisualNovel/DoubleHomework'' by Dennis’s dad. He threatens to plant evidence to make it look like the protagonist caused the second avalanche if he doesn’t tell him what really happened to Dennis.
141	* ''VisualNovel/MysticMessenger'': [[spoiler:Echo Girl]] tries to pull this on Jumin and Zen for turning down her romantic advances in one of the routes. [[spoiler:Her claim that Zen sexually harassed her]] nearly tanks his career, although the other rumor (that [[spoiler:Jumin is gay]]) gets shrugged off.
142	* In ''VisualNovel/{{Sunrider}} 4: The Captain's Return'', Veniczar Fontana takes every opportunity to smear his ArchEnemy Kayto Shields, baselessly calling him everything from a murderer of children to a sexual deviant. When he captures Kayto late in the game, his PropagandaMachine paints Kayto as TheQuisling to [[spoiler:Crow Harbor]], claiming that Kayto would have sold the whole galaxy to [[spoiler:the time-traveling warlord]] just to set himself up as the petty dictator of his home planet Cera. The Ceran prime minister Miirage Foster gets in on the slander at the end of the game, warning her people that Kayto is a disgraced, glory-seeking womanizer willing to ally himself with tyrants and monsters in his quest to bring ruin to their world.
143	[[/folder]]
144
145	[[folder:Web Animation]]
146	* ''WebAnimation/EtraChanSawIt'':
147	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_C50px5H5g Akamatsu]] spreads false rumors about Tsutsuji as retaliation for not only rejecting him but also reporting him for sexual harassment. Both Tsutsuji and Yuzuriha stages a confession from him and exposes it to the manager, resulting in clearing Tsutsuji's name and getting Akamatsu fired and divorced.
148	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVOySpeOpes In this story]], [[spoiler:Akane plants lolicon porn in Kuroki's room to falsely accuse him of fetishizing Yuzuriha, because Yuzuriha likes her uncle more than her own mother. None of his family wants to hear his perspective, and nobody believes in Yuzuriha's defense. Kuroki eventually vindicates himself, but since the irreparable damage is already done, he never wants to see his family again for gullibly believing Akane and accusing him.]]
149	* ''WebAnimation/MangaWaido'': In ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZKqLpe1fFQ My ex was telling lies about me behind my back, so I…]]'', Mayu dumps Satoshi and accuses him of being an abusive delinquent before hooking up with a CEO named Ryo Akagi, whom she also dumped and accused of being a gambling maniac. Thankfully, her slander comes back to bite her at Shuichi's revenge party, [[spoiler:where Satoshi reveals himself as a police officer as Akagi reported her for slander. After her arrest, Mayu worked nonstop to pay the 5 million yen settlement offered by Akagi. Eventually, her constant begging for money turned her friends and family away.]]
150	* ''WebAnimation/MoniRobo'': [[https://youtu.be/9vgbUw04YsU Silas and Miss Veronica]] were anonymously slandered by Camila and Morogoni in retaliation for getting $20,000 of compensation money out of them. The latter couple even went as far as to post ''revenge porn'' of the former couple.
151	* ''WebAnimation/RefreshingStories'':
152	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmS-jKlDVIw "My idiot wife lied about a vacation and was cheating on me…"]]: It's revealed Kyoko called Auntie Junko to accuse Hiroshi of DomesticAbuse to cover up the abuse ''she'' [[HenpeckedHusband meted on him]] and even her affairs.
153	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQmp3PwOVZk "My girlfriend dumped me because I was poor, but a few years later..."]]: After Hiroshi's workplace shut down all operations and he had to live at a cheaper apartment, Riho dumped him for a richer guy named Masaya. She then proceeded to accuse Hiroshi of stalking her so that Masaya cows him into submission whenever he objected.
154	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKelnpQbED8 "Wife leaves husband for earning less than her"]]: After Sarah meets Mr. Katakura at a bar and thinks he's rich, she hides the fact she's married to Hiroshi and accuses him of dumping all his debt on her before vanishing and kept with the lies so she could divorce Hiroshi and marry Sorao. However, her lies come back to bite her as Sorao calls her over to Hiroshi's factory to hold her accountable; it turns out he has done a background check on her and found out the truth.
155	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OR_WipTPTc "My ex-wife is suing me, so I'm going to make regret it"]] [sic]: Oriko slanders Hiroshi as an abusive scammer and sleazebag to her second boyfriend Shigeru after Hiroshi catches her with a guy on the couch on his way home after the company he works at allows online work. When the lovebirds sue Hiroshi and take him to court, however, the Judge dismisses Oriko's case before having both her and Shigeru arrested for attempted fraud upon learning she made it all up.
156	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vy_ubS-nOs "A colleague stole my girlfriend, became the CEO, and then fired me…"]]: When Hiroshi had to resign from the company and Temae was to be the next CEO, the former's girlfriend Miko accused him of being restrictive, controlling and [[FinancialAbuse constantly demanding she gives him money,]] to which Hiroshi objects, before switching to the latter.
157	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpOPmZUAAzQ "I went to my coworker's wedding to find that he was getting married to my wife…!"]]: Ami manipulated Hiroshi into marrying her by claiming her parents held her hostage at home to have a free slave, when in reality, they constantly watched Ami because she was a chronic troublemaker at school and work. By the time Hiroshi learns about it, she accused Hiroshi of stalking and abusing her at her (illegal) wedding with his coworker, Kazuyuki.
158	[[/folder]]
159
160	[[folder:Web Comics]]
161	* In ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'', Garland starts an ad campaign linking the Light Warriors to recent attacks of terrorism. Inverted in that the Light Warriors ''are'' responsible for recent attacks of terrorism.
162	* In ''Webcomic/BittersweetCandyBowl'' [[spoiler: Tess]] used this against [[spoiler: Jessica]], branding her as a slut. It haunts her throughout high school.
163	* In [[https://derpibooru.org/147019 this]] ''Celestia's Servant Interview'' comic, [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Gilda]] is claiming that in their run-in in ''Griffon the Brush-Off'', Fluttershy yelled at her and threw racial slurs.
164	* ''Webcomic/{{Endtown}}'': A conspiracy of serial killers starts a race war to create martyrs out of their victims and supremacist prejudice out of their scapegoats. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the first part works, the second part gets the killers' faces ripped off, and the whole town is filled with paranoia over who's a neo-nazi and who's a cannibal.
165	* ''Webcomic/{{Erfworld}}'': Charlie's answer to charges of having violated neutrality by helping one side for free. Actually, he simply denies helping them for free. He doesn't call it slander until they suggest he actually spent money helping them.
166	* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'':
167	** Zola [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090302 repeats]] rumors about Gil at Beetleburg, saying he was completely crazy there. ([[RightInFrontOfMe To Gil, actually.]])
168	** And [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090724 then]] she tries to defame Agatha to Gil. Ignoring that given Zola's behavior, Agatha's response has been reasonable.
169	* One night in ''Webcomic/LeftoverSoup'', a young thug tries to mug Jamie, and Jamie snatches the thug's gun. Jamie is arrested, and shortly afterwards, the newspaper prints a story claiming that Jamie attacked the young man while spouting racial slurs.
170	* The debated status of the main character of ''Webcomic/InvinceaAndTheWarriorsFromHell'' as a witchling leads to a lot of malicious rumors of her misdeeds, and of course there are plenty who are readily willing to believe them.
171	* In ''Webcomic/MenInHats'', Aram [[http://www.meninhats.com/d/20040209.html takes one of Jeriah's poems, rewrites it to be anti-religious, and passes it along to religious zealot Sam]].
172	* In ''Webcomic/PennyAndAggie'', Charlotte makes a Website/YouTube video accusing Sara of raping her.
173	* In ''Webcomic/{{Sunstone}}'', Alan in college was wrongly accused of being gay and subject to harassment because of this; things escalated when his sketchbook of BDSM artwork was discovered, stolen, photocopied and then posted around the campus. Worse still it was a friend of Allison, Alan's future close friend, who kept the gossip about him circulating. This likely accounts for Alan's cynicism about mainstream society's views of his subculture.
174	* One of Phillip Kim's main weapons in ''Webcomic/WeakHero''. Since he doesn't have any fighting prowess to his name, he instead spreads rumours and lies so that others will end up fighting his enemies for him.
175	[[/folder]]
176
177	[[folder:Web Original]]
178	* In ''Literature/TheDoctorsOfTheCatFamily'' Jonathan Cat, a businessman, is falsely accused of abusing his wife and getting wealthy through stealing by people who are jealous of his wealth and don't understand how business works.
179	* In the ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'', Phase is a Goodkind. That means his family is the most famous, most important group of mutant haters on the planet. Phase is a mutant at SuperheroSchool Whateley Academy. Pretty much everybody there assumes he's still a mutant-hating monster. At the beginning of "Ayla and the Mad Scientist", people are gossiping about him supposedly kicking Bladedancer out of Team Kimba, and all the horrible reasons that might be behind it. To make matters worse, Bladedancer asked to be tossed out of Team Kimba (as part of a gambit to place her as a [[TheMole mole in another group]]), so it's hard to deny.
180	-->The gossip mill at Whateley, which was really less like a mill and more like a large factory complete with loading docks and rail lines for optimal transmission of goods, was saying that I had kicked Chou out of Team Kimba, and the rest of the team was going along with that. Oh, there were other rumors. That Chou had gotten seriously hurt in Boston and had quit the team like a big crybaby. That Chou had decided she was tired of getting in trouble with Carson just for being on our team and getting dragged into team shenanigans. That the team voted her out in a Survivor-esque tribunal, with a clear majority wanting her gone. And my personal least favorite: Chou had gotten tired of being my personal geisha love-pillow and had bailed. I managed not to cringe when I heard that one.
181	[[/folder]]
182
183	[[folder:Western Animation]]
184	* In ''WesternAnimation/CentralPark'', in an effort to sabotage Central Park so she can buy it, she slanders the park manager, Owen, so he can be fired and replaced.
185	** In Season 1 "[[Recap/CentralParkS1E8HotOven Hot Oven]]", Bitsy releases a smear letter in the newspaper about Central Park falling apart and they need a new management for the park to improve. She brings up the time when the park was full of trash and graffiti from previous episodes, which she was responsible for in an attempt to sabotage the park. Owen does not take this well.
186	** In Season 1 "[[Recap/CentralParkS1E10AFishCalledSnakehead A Fish Called Snakehead]]", after Dick Flake caught the snakehead for Bitsy so she could improve her public image, she also uses this opportunity to slander Owen's management skills and tells the media that someone like her is needed to take care of the park. This leaves Owen [[HeroicBSOD upset]] after everyone leaves.
187	* In the ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'' episode "Talent to the Max", an evil magic hat uses this against [[TheCassandra PJ]]. PJ wanted to tell Max that the hat was evil, and clearly, the hat couldn't allow that, so it told Max that he was trying to steal his act and briefly possessed him to "prove" it. PJ denied the accusations when Max "saw" him upstage him, but Max got very mad at PJ for "trying to steal his act." PJ is one of the two [[NiceGuy least selfish]] and [[UndyingLoyalty most loyal]] characters in the cast, ''and'' a BadLiar. [[NoSympathy Max still believes the lies.]]
188	* ''WesternAnimation/MyAdventuresWithSuperman'': In the episode "[[Recap/MyAdventuresWithSupermanS1E07ZeroDayPartOne Zero Day: Part-1]]" Vicky Vale goes to the Daily Planet to get a job after leaving the Gotham Gazette, which she intends to do by exposing Superman as a dangerous vigilante who answers to no one but himself. Lois and Jimmy, who were assigned to help her, and the former who admires Vale, take Vicky to interview several people who had been helped by Superman to see that he's actually a hero who wants to help people. They then talk to Alexander, an assistant to Dr. Ivo, who became Parasyte, and Alexander states that Superman is the sole reason his boss' business went bankrupt, putting him and thousands of others out of work, never mind that [[Recap/MyAdventuresWithSupermanS1E03LetsGoToIvoTowerYouSay another episode]] stated that the board of directors wanted to get rid of Ivo due to financial mismanagement, and also blames Superman for the destruction of the building they're in, despite Ivo being the one who started the confrontation after Superman saved an executive Ivo threw out a window, and Alexander concludes the interview saying that Superman is "[[ComicBook/TheKillingJoke one bad day]]" [[BewareTheSuperman from going rogue]]. Back at the Daily Planet building, [[BrokenPedestal Lois discovers that Vicky lied about looking for a new job]], and instead used her story to get a promotion at the Gotham Gazette, when she ignored the interviews of the people Superman saved and only used Alexander's words as proof that Superman is a threat to humanity that must be stopped for the greater good.
189	* ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'':
190	** It adapts ''Literature/TheRailwaySeries'' Reconstruction "Dirty Work", in which Diesel creates Malicious Slander about the tender engines to frame Duck.
191	** Also performed, albeit inadvertently, in "Thomas And The New Engine", after Thomas sees a new diesel-esque steam engine, Neville, hanging around with troublemakers 'Arry and Bert (in reality being bullied by them) he assumes he is another troublemaking diesel, this is passed around the other engines until the story is blown into Neville being a steamie-biffing racist. After finding out Neville is, in fact, a NiceGuy, Thomas immediately rectifies his mistake and befriends him.
192	[[/folder]]

Context Main / MaliciousSlander