The president’s son Hunter Biden last month filed a lawsuit against Fox News, claiming the cable network unlawfully published explicit images of him on its streaming service.
The complaint, filed on June 30 in state court in Manhattan, centers on images that were used in the Fox Nation streaming service’s 2022 broadcast “The Trial of Hunter Biden,” which featured a “mock trial” on charges the younger Biden has not faced.
The lawsuit alleges that the explicit images violated New York law against revenge porn and were disseminated without Biden’s consent. It accused Fox News of broadcasting the images to millions of views as a way to “humiliate” and “harass” the younger Biden and “tarnish his reputation.”
A spokesperson for the cable network said the lawsuit was without merit and described it as “entirely politically motivated.”
According to the spokesperson, attorneys for Hunter Biden sent Fox Nation a letter in April 2024 demanding that the broadcast be removed from the streaming service and Fox complied with the request and removed it “within days of the letter” out of “an abundance of caution.”
At the same time, the spokesperson said that because Hunter Biden is “a public figure” and a “convicted felon” who was the “subject of multiple investigations,” it was “consistent” with the First Amendment for Fox to accurately cover “newsworthy events” of Hunter’s “own making.”
Fox looked “forward to vindicating our rights in court,” the spokesperson said.
The Fox Nation “mock trial” dealt with Hunter’s foreign financial dealings and possible bribery, charges that the president’s son has not faced, according to the lawsuit.
Hunter is seeking compensatory and punitive damages from Fox and asks a court to direct the network to remove all copies of the explicit images in question.
According to the lawsuit, the promotional materials for the now-removed series have not been taken down by Fox and the broadcast itself continues to be available on other streaming platforms.
