Ann Bogie attended a comedy performance by Joan Rivers. During the performance, Rivers told a joke about the legendary Helen Keller, who was deaf and blind. This joke offended an audience member who had a deaf son. The audience member heckled Rivers, and the two had a brief but sharp exchange that was captured on film. Immediately after the show, Rivers exited to a backstage area closed to the general public. Bogie gained entry to this backstage area and asked Rivers to sign a copy of her book. Bogie engaged Rivers in a brief conversation during which Bogie expressed frustration with the heckler and sympathy for Rivers. Rivers responded with an expression of sympathy for the heckler. The conversation went as follows:

Bogie: Thank you. You are so . . . I never laughed so hard in my life. 

Rivers: Oh, you’re a good laugher and that makes such a difference. 

Bogie: Oh, I know. And that rotten guy. . . . 

Rivers: Oh, I’m sorry for him. 

Bogie: I was ready to get up and say . . . tell him to leave. 

Rivers: He has a, he has a deaf son. 

Bogie: I know. Rivers: That’s tough. 

Bogie: But he’s gotta realize that this is comedy. 

Rivers: Comedy. 

Bogie: Right 

Unbeknownst to Bogie, her conversation with Rivers was captured on film. The film showed that at least three other persons were present during this exchange (a uniformed security guard and two other men who appeared to work for Rivers). They were all within a few feet of both Bogie and Rivers. 

The film of the exchange between Rivers and the heckler and the film of Bogie’s interaction with Rivers were included in a nationally distributed documentary titled Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work. Bogie’s conversation with Rivers accounted for 16 seconds in the 82-minute documentary. Bogie sued Rivers and other defendants, contending that the filming of her conversation with Rivers and the inclusion of the interaction in the documentary constituted invasion of privacy. In her complaint, Bogie alleged (among other things) that she was portrayed in the documentary as having approved of condescending and disparaging remarks by Rivers toward the heckler. A federal district court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss Bogie’s complaint for failure to state a claim on which relief could be granted. Was the district court correct in so ruling?