Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden, has filed a lawsuit against Fox News for publishing nude photos of him engaging in sex acts with his then mistress, as part of its 2022 miniseries, 'The Trial of Hunter Biden'.
The lawsuit, filed in state court in Manhattan, charges that the streaming giant Fox Nation violated New York’s revenge porn law through the series that featured a mock trial showing "how a possible Hunter Biden trial might look" for two crimes he has not been charged with.
"Fox published and disseminated these Intimate Images to its vast audience of millions as part of an entertainment program in order to humiliate, harass, annoy and alarm Mr. Biden and to tarnish his reputation," according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleged that the dissemination of the images caused Biden "severe emotional distress, humiliation, and mental anguish" and irreparably injured his reputation both personally and professionally.
Besides seeking ompensatory damages, punitive damages, an order forcing Fox to take down any remaining publication of the intimate images and destroy any copies it owns, the petitioner also wants a permanent injunction preventing Fox from using the images again and disgorgement of the profits from the miniseries.
A Fox News spokesperson told AP that the lawsuit was an entirely politically motivated lawsuit" that was "devoid of merit" in an emailed statement. The statement noted that attorneys for Biden sent them a letter demanding its removal from streaming platforms in April 2024.
"The program was removed within days of the letter, in an abundance of caution, but Hunter Biden is a public figure who has been the subject of multiple investigations and is now a convicted felon. Consistent with the First Amendment, Fox News has accurately covered the newsworthy events of Mr. Biden's own making, and we look forward to vindicating our rights in court," according to the emailed statement.
Hunter Biden was convicted last month of three felony charges related to the purchase of a revolver in 2018 when, prosecutors argued, the president's son lied on a mandatory gun-purchase form by saying he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs.
