Question regarding fanfiction centered around Real People, in particular Celebrities.

Hi, I had a question about whether or not celebrity fiction, i.e. fanfiction that includes real celebrities a la Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise as characters, is an allowed topic on QQ, either in the SFW or NSFW fiction. I didn't see anything specifically disallowing it in the Rules, but I just wanted to err on the side of caution and ask.

For reference, the story I have in mind would be rather tongue in cheek and obviously fictitious, with all the necessary disclaimers of me not knowing the people involved, all events being fictitious etc etc.

 

I have no idea if it would be frowned upon, but that's a statement about cultural reception not the rules, and I don't read RPF anyways.

The rule I would think you would risk running afoul of would be Rule 8 "no politics". But despite the references to recent events, Rule 8 as enforced is better summarized as "QQ is for porn, not politics. Anything that smells too much like a political shitstorm debate will be shut down with extreme prejudice". So if you referenced Harvey Weinstein or AOC, I would expect you to be at more risk than if you referenced Brad Pitt or Beyonce (am I dating myself there?), but you'd also have a lot more leeway in the actual fiction story posts than would be given in the discussion part of the thread.

Unless you were writing about someone who uses QQ and someone thought you were writing about them because they're a QQ user, anyways. Then a bunch of other rules probably apply. (If Brad Pitt secretly uses QQ under the pseudonym UnicornPoop, this wouldn't apply to writing about Brad Pitt the celebrity. But if you write a satirical story about MissileTeatime, or about RocketCoffee the suspiciously similar substitute, then it might apply.)

 

I remember an author got a warning for going along with naming an OC character after a particular, famous, current politician... and then basically making the OC an expie/insert. Avoid political controversy.

In terms of limits on depictions, as I understand, the rules are meant to enforce the legal limits in the US.

In the US, fictional portrayals (art, CGI, text) may depict anyone who isn't currently a minor in any manner. However, I am unsure as to the legality of adult depictions of someone who is currently a minor (or not of legal age) in purely text form: better to avoid it.

If you cover a topic/celebrity/character that is controversial for fan base reasons, help keep discussions on-topic in the thread (about the story, not fan base stuff), or else create a discussion thread to move off-topic arguments into (though this tends to be flexible).

Rule 8 covers the last 20 years or so, or anything that is still "current", but allowances can be made case-by-case if it's important to the story and not controversial, then the mods have mentioned you can ask them.

Lastly, you also can't take liberties with anyone who is a member of QQ.

BTW - it's not known if the standard "All Persons are Fictitious" disclaimer actually does anything legally, it's hardly ever been tried in courts and always ends in non-precedent setting settlements (or dismissals).