Hunter Biden Drops ‘Revenge Porn’ Suit Against Fox News
(Sipa via AP Images)
Hunter Biden dropped his lawsuit against Fox News that alleged the network broke the law by airing sexually explicit images of him in a 2022 six-part “mock trial” series called The Trial of Hunter Biden.
This is the second time Hunter has dropped the lawsuit against Fox. He first threatened to sue the network in April 2024, which prompted Fox Nation to remove the miniseries from its streaming platform. Hunter then sued Fox last July and dropped the case a few weeks later. In October, he filed another lawsuit, which he officially dropped on Friday.
“We are pleased to move on now that Hunter Biden has finally voluntarily withdrawn this meritless case, which proved to be nothing more than a politically motivated stunt,” Fox told Mediaite in a statement.
Hunter’s initial suit alleged Fox News violated NY Civil Rights Law Sec 52-b, which covers so-called “revenge porn.” The series premiered in late October 2022 and was promoted as a look at “how a possible Hunter Biden trial might look.”
Hunter’s lawyers did not explicitly explain why they dismissed the case, which they can’t bring back to court – but they did recently lose their bid to move it from federal court to New York state.
“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. Indeed, the entire miniseries is fictionalized and based on a nonexistent criminal case,” alleged Hunter’s July court filing.
Fox reacted to the filing in a statement to Mediaite at the time, saying, “This entirely politically motivated lawsuit is devoid of merit. The core complaint stems from a 2022 streaming program that Mr. Biden did not complain about until sending a letter in late 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.”
Fox also explained to Mediaite at the time why it removed the “mock trial” series from its streamer: “This program was produced in and has been available since 2022. We are reviewing the concerns that have just been raised and — out of an abundance of caution in the interim — have taken it down.”
