Hunter Biden Sues Fox News Over Miniseries

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Facts

  • Hunter Biden, the son of US Pres. Joe Biden, is suing Fox News over its 2022 miniseries called “The Trial of Hunter Biden,” which portrayed “how a possible Hunter Biden trial might look.”1
  • The lawsuit — filed in the Supreme Court of New York on Monday — accuses Fox of targeting Hunter “in an effort to harass, annoy, alarm, and humiliate him, and tarnish his reputation,” saying the series “sought to commercialize Mr. Biden’s personality.”2
  • By disseminating intimate pictures and video of Biden, Fox is accused of violating New York’s revenge porn laws and causing the plaintiff “severe emotional distress, humiliation, and mental anguish.” The six-part series ran from 2022 to April 2024 before it was taken down.3
  • Despite arguing that it's protected by the First Amendment, Fox says it removed the series from its streaming platform, Fox Nation, 'in an abundance of caution' after Hunter sent a complaint letter in April.4
  • The fictionalized trials centered on Biden’s potential violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act and alleged bribery, two topics that have been heavily discussed by Republicans who are investigating the Bidens’ foreign business dealings.4
  • While acknowledging the portrayal of some true information, the lawsuit claims the series 'intentionally manipulates the facts' and 'distorts the truth' and published stolen photos for entertainment purposes.5

Sources: 1ABC News, 2The Hill, 3Variety, 4Forbes and 5CNBC.

Narratives

  • Democratic narrative, as provided by Rolling Stone. Hunter Biden is right to sue Fox for its defamatory series that unlawfully published intimate images of him. The right-wing media and the Republican Party have spent the last five years pushing conspiracy theories about Pres. Biden and his son, yet they haven’t made any progress in finding evidence suggesting any form of inappropriate behavior.
  • Republican narrative, as provided by The Gateway Pundit. Hunter Biden’s lawsuit won't hold up, and even his attorneys acknowledge that much of Fox’s series contains true information. The entire suit revolves around images that were left on Biden’s abandoned laptop, meaning they weren’t stolen or hacked material. Fox even took down the miniseries despite it being legal under the First Amendment.

Predictions