Lawyers for Hunter Biden, the Biden son clouded by personal controversies and a recent conviction for lying on a form to buy a gun, filed a lawsuit against Fox News on Monday over a miniseries they had posted and then taken down from their digital streaming service.
The program, titled "The Trial of Hunter Biden," was a six-part docuseries released in 2022 that featured a "mock trial" about overseas financial dealings that landed him in a federal tax indictment.
In April, complaints by Hunter Biden's legal team over sexually explicit images of their client induced the right-wing media network to take the series down. At the time, a Fox News spokesperson said the outlet was "reviewing" concerns about the program and had elected to take it down "out of an abundance of caution in the interim."
Now, Biden's lawyers are suing Fox over the series, alleging that the media outlet targeted him “in an effort to harass, annoy, alarm, and humiliate him, and tarnish his reputation.”
“Far from reporting on a newsworthy event, Fox sought to commercialize Mr. Biden’s personality through a form of treatment distinct from the dissemination of news or information,” the lawsuit reads. “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.”
Biden's lawyers charge Fox News with violating a law that restricts disclosure of "intimate images."
A spokesperson for Fox News told Salon that the lawsuit is "devoid of merit," referring to Biden as a "public figure" and "convicted felon" who is trying to squash the network's right to free speech.
