Hunter Biden, the legally embattled son of President Biden, filed a lawsuit against Fox News alleging that sexually graphic photos of Hunter Biden included in the network’s fictionalized “mock trial” miniseries about him violated a New York revenge porn law.
Hunter Biden’s suit against Fox News was filed Sunday, June 30, in New York Supreme Court. The complaint is available at this link. Biden’s lawsuit seeks unspecific monetary damages.
Fox News debuted “The Trial of Hunter Biden: A Mock Trial for the American People” on the Fox Nation streaming service in October 2022. The news network described the six-part series, which included several sexually graphic images of Hunter Biden, as a mock trial portraying “how a possible Hunter Biden trial might look.”
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In April 2024, Fox News removed the series after being contacted by Biden’s attorneys, saying it was “reviewing the concerns that have just been raised” about the series. While “The Trial of Hunter Biden” is no longer available, “promotional reels and clips of the mocu-series have not been removed by Fox,” Biden’s lawsuit alleged.
“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 said. “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.”
The lawsuit alleged that Fox knew that its use of the “intimate images” of Biden in “The Trial of Hunter Biden” series “would violate New York state’s revenge porn laws,” including New York Civil Rights Law Section 52-b and Penal Law Section 245.15 (making the unlawful dissemination or publication of an intimate image a class A misdemeanor).
“The unauthorized publication and dissemination of the intimate images has caused Mr. Biden severe emotional distress, humiliation, and mental anguish, as well as irreparable injury to his personal and professional reputation,” his lawsuit against Fox News said.
In a statement, a Fox News spokesperson, said, “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.”
The Fox News rep’s statement added, “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.”
The lawsuit comes after Hunter Biden was convicted last month of lying about his drug use to buy a gun and illegally possessing a firearm. His lawyers have said he plans to appeal the felony conviction.
The Fox Nation “mock trial” series about Hunter Biden examined whether he violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act and whether he committed bribery. Biden’s lawsuit pointed out that he not been charged with either offense.
