A former Arizona man who claims he had to flee his home after former Fox News host Tucker Carlson deliberately and falsely portrayed him as an undercover FBI agent who launched the January 6, 2020 attacks on the U.S. Capitol, has sued the cable-news outlet for defamation.
It is the latest suit from a series of parties who allege Fox News deliberately and with malice broadcast incorrect and damaging accounts about them. Fox Corp., the outlet’s parent, recently paid out $787.5 million to voting-technology firm Dominion Voting Systems over allegations that Fox News deliberately implicated the company in false allegations about the security of the 2020 presidential election, and paid $12 million to a former Fox News producer who alleged she had been hectored into providing false testimony in that matter.
“Fox’s role in creating and disseminating destructive conspiracy theories has already been well documented,” said a lawsuit filed Wednesday in the Superior Court of the State of Delaware on behalf of Ray Epps, the plaintiff. Epps is seeking an unspecified amount in damages.
A Fox News spokesperson could not be reached for immediate comment.
The suit alleges that Carlson became “fixated” with Epps, promoting the notion that the January 6th attack was a “false flag” operation. On January 11, 2022, Carlson told viewers that Epps was the “central figure” Capito attack, and would also allege claimed that he helped “stage-manage” the insurrection. Other Fox personalities, such as Laura Ingraham and Will Cain, also burnished the storyline, the suit alleges.
Epps did attend the rallies outside the U.S. Capitol on January 6. He is captured on video, however, seeking others to enter the Capitol, and, in another instance, is seen pushing past a police barricade. The lawsuit indicates that in May, the U.S. Department of Justice notified him it was planning to file criminal charges against him related to the Capitol attack. Such an indication would throw cold water on the notion that he was allegedly a covert agent.
Fox News still faces a defamation suit from a Smartmatic, a second voting technology company that was invoked by Fox News opinion hosts in the aftermath of President Biden’s 2020 victory. Smartmatic has filed a massive $2.7 billion suit against Fox News that is still pending. Like Dominion, Smartmatic has alleged that Fox News falsely claimed the company had rigged the election, repeated items about the matter and then refused to engage in efforts to set the record straight. The 2020 election was not fixed and its results were certified by multiple legal processes
