AMY WESTFELDT Associated Press Writer

(AP) - NEW YORK-A judge threw out Friday a lawsuit accusing a city councilman of defaming a fired DJ by calling him a "pedophile" for sex-laced rants about a rival's young daughter.

DJ Star, whose real name is Troi Torain, was briefly charged with child endangerment and fired from WWPR's "Star & Buc Wild Morning Show" last year after making remarks about the wife and 4-year-old daughter of Hot 97 DJ Raashaun Casey.

Councilman John Liu denounced Torain in press conferences and television interviews, calling him a "pedophile" and a "lunatic" who should be "terminated from the face of the Earth," according to court papers.

Torain sued Liu a year ago for $55 million (€40.88 million), saying his reputation was permanently damaged. But Judge George B. Daniels said Liu's comments could not be seen as factual to most listeners and viewers, a key to a defamation claim.

"No reasonable person would have believed (Liu) was conveying a fact about plaintiff - i.e., that plaintiff was engaged in acts of pedophilia - rather than defendant's opinion," the judge wrote.

Liu said Friday he did not regret his comments.

Torain's lawyer did not immediately return a message seeking comment Friday.

The hip-hop DJ was fired from New York's WWPR radio station after he offered listeners $500 (€372) for information about Casey's daughter's school and made sexually charged remarks about her. Casey is known as DJ Envy on WQHT-FM.

Torain also used a racial slur to describe Casey's wife, who is part Asian.

Torain was initially charged with child endangerment after the remarks, but prosecutors dropped the charges, saying they wanted to spare the young girl further attention.