Hunter Biden’s lawsuit against Fox News could backfire, lawyer says

Hunter Biden should be aware of all the negative publicity that will surround his revenge porn lawsuit against Fox News, a lawyer has warned.

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

Biden is using this law to sue Fox over a six-part series in 2022 titled The Hunter Biden TrialThe series featured a “mock trial” focused on the overseas financial dealings that led to Biden’s federal tax indictment and helped fuel the House impeachment inquiry into his father.

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

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

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

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

The Streisand effect, named after singer and actress Barbara Streisand, describes moments when a person accidentally increases public interest while seeking privacy.

The term was coined after Streisand unsuccessfully sued a photographer in 2003 over a little-known photograph of her Malibu home. The resulting publicity led to a massive spike in the number of people viewing the photograph online.

“One might wonder what the Streisand effect of Hunter Biden’s action was,” Kerwick said of the lawsuit.

But he said the law under which Biden is suing Fox could allow him to pursue criminal proceedings against the station and thereby quash some of the stories.

“His lawsuit was brought not only on grounds of unjust enrichment, but also under New York Civil Rights Law 52-b. Plaintiff asserts a private right of action that could result in criminal prosecution,” he said.

“That concern may serve to temper the more dire news as news about the 2024 presidential election intensifies.”

According to Biden’s court filing, 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 in Manhattan state court on Sunday accuses Fox News of creating the series about Hunter Biden “in an effort to harass, annoy, alarm and humiliate him, and tarnish his reputation.”

“Far from reporting a newsworthy event, Fox sought to market Mr. Biden’s personality through a form of treatment other than the dissemination of news or information. In fact, the entire miniseries is fictional and based on a non-existent criminal case,” his lawyers say.