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Fox News caves to Hunter Biden threat

Published on 16 Comments on Fox News caves to Hunter Biden threat

Yesterday Hunter Biden threatened to sue Fox News for publishing sexually explicit photos and claiming that he took bribes from a Ukrainian oligarch. Much of his letter focused on a six-part fictional series called “The Trial of Hunter Biden”:

“While using certain true information, the series intentionally manipulates the facts, distorts the truth, narrates happenings out of context, and invents dialogue intended to entertain,” says the 14-page letter, signed by Tina Glandian of Geragos & Geragos. “Thus, the viewer of the series cannot decipher what is fact and what is fiction, which is highly damaging to Mr. Biden.”

That actually sounded a little weak to me, but guess what?

Hmm. An "abundance of caution." How about that? This is yet another (small) sign that right-wingers are being put on notice that they can no longer peddle their lies with no fear of being held accountable for them.

In related news, Gateway Pundit has declared bankruptcy. Publisher Jim Hoft tried to put a brave face on it (“a common tool for reorganization and to consolidate litigation when attacks are coming from all sides”) but don't believe it. They're being sued into oblivion for very good reason. Flagrant right-wing lies are no longer cost free.

16 thoughts on “Fox News caves to Hunter Biden threat”

  1. ColBatGuano

    And yet Rudy Giuliani is still out there on Steve Bannon's show saying Ukraine should be forced to turn over their "Biden File" where all the evidence is hidden.

        2. Five Parrots in a Shoe

          He has two kids. Believe me, they are appalled at this. He has fumbled away what should have a pretty good inheritance for them.

          1. lkladd

            One of Rudy’s sons was protesting outside the Trump trial the other day. It was just him and one other MAGAt.

  2. bbleh

    Flagrant right-wing lies are no longer cost free.

    Consequences?!? It's soooo unFAAAAAIIIIRRRRR!!!!

    Right-wingers -- media and their consumers, MAGA and Good German Republican -- are like 6-year-olds: creatures of nearly pure Id, without any notions of self-restraint, empathy or cooperation.

    Actually, that's probably kind of unfair to 6-year-olds.

  3. Austin

    Good for him. He should still sue anyway. He didn’t consent to his images being posted everywhere, the sex workers in them didn’t consent and also aren’t public figures (where looser libel and slander laws apply) and the computer shop owner who gave them to Rudy Giuliani who gave them to whomever in the media and abroad didn’t have legal ownership of them. (The screenshots I’ve seen look like the actual files were stored on iCloud, which means Apple has the secondary rights to owning them, if Hunter himself doesn’t own them. Using someone’s password stored on their computer to empty their real life checking account is illegal, even if you gave the computer to the person who did it. Not sure why stealing images from iCloud isn’t also theft and fraud in a similar way.)

  5. kenalovell

    The New York Post used to publish humiliating pictures of Hunter Biden with every story vaguely related to the Biden family, to such an extent that even some right-wingers in comments began to mock them for the practice. Then some time last year they abruptly ceased. I imagine one of the Fox lawyers finally realised it was not a clever thing to be doing.

    Hopefully their lawsuit is being prepared.

  6. Brett

    I've always though it was hilarious that there's a strong contingent of Republicans who want to weaken defamation protections so they can bully critics and the NYT with lawsuits, because conservative media wouldn't last a year in a US with more loose libel laws. They regularly engage in stuff that would be defamatory under a looser standard - that sometimes is defamatory under the current standard.

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