Hunter Biden’s Fox News lawsuit may fail: attorney

A lawyer warned that Hunter Biden should be aware of the negative publicity that will accompany his revenge porn lawsuit against Fox News.

President Joe Biden’s son is suing Fox News under New York’s revenge porn law, which prohibits the distribution of sex scenes involving real people. The law was designed to stop people from distributing private sex videos without the person’s consent.

Biden is using the law to sue Fox over a six-part 2022 series titled Hunter Biden TrialThe series featured a “mock trial” centered around offshore financial transactions that led to Biden’s federal tax indictment and aided the House impeachment inquiry into his father.

In April, the network removed the show from Fox News’ streaming platform, Fox Nation.

According to court documents filed in New York City Superior Court on June 30, Hunter Biden’s lawsuit alleges that Fox News violated Section 52-b of the New York Civil Rights Law, which covers revenge pornography, by showing intimate videos and still images of him nude engaging in sexual acts.

Newsweek reached out to Fox News and Hunter Biden’s attorney via email on Friday for comment.

New York attorney Colleen Kerwick said: Newsweek that Biden should be wary of the “Streisand effect” when it comes to this issue.

The Streisand effect, named after singer and actress Barbara Streisand, describes a situation in which someone inadvertently attracts public attention while maintaining their privacy.

The term was coined after Streisand unsuccessfully sued a photographer in 2003 over a little-known photo of her Malibu home. The resulting publicity led to a surge in online views of the photo.

“One might wonder about the Streisand effect that Hunter Biden’s actions have had,” Kerwick said of the lawsuit.

However, she added that the law under which Biden is suing Fox could allow him to bring criminal proceedings against the network and thus silence some stories.

“His suit is brought not only on the basis of unjust enrichment, but also under NY Civil Rights Law 52-b. The plaintiff is bringing a private right of action that potentially has the potential to escalate into a criminal action,” she said.

“These concerns could overshadow more racy reports as news surrounding the 2024 presidential election picks up steam.”

According to Biden’s court documents, the Fox series caused him “severe emotional distress, humiliation, and mental anguish, as well as irreparable harm to his personal and professional reputation.”

The 15-page lawsuit, filed Sunday in Manhattan state court, accuses Fox News of creating the series about Hunter Biden “for the purpose of harassing, annoying, alarming, and humiliating him and tarnishing his reputation.”

“Far from covering a newsworthy event, Fox sought to commercialize Mr. Biden’s personality through a form of treatment distinct from the dissemination of news or information. In fact, the entire miniseries is fictional and based on a nonexistent criminal case,” his lawyers said.