Hunter Biden sues Fox News over explicit images in streaming series

NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Hunter Biden has filed a lawsuit accusing Fox News of illegally publishing explicit images of him as part of a streaming series.

The president’s son filed the lawsuit in Manhattan state court on Sunday over images from the series “The Trial of Hunter Biden,” which premiered on the streaming service Fox Nation in 2022. The series depicts a “mock trial” of Hunter Biden on charges he did not face and includes images of Biden naked and engaging in sexual acts, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges that the distribution of intimate images without his consent violated New York State’s so-called revenge porn law.

“Fox released these intimate images as part of an entertainment program and distributed them to its vast audience of millions in order to humiliate, harass, annoy and distress Mr. Biden and to damage his reputation,” the lawsuit states.

A Fox News spokesperson called the lawsuit “purely politically motivated” and “baseless” in an emailed statement. The statement said Biden’s lawyers had sent them a letter demanding that the lawsuit be removed from the streaming platforms in April 2024.

“The broadcast was removed within days of the letter as a precautionary measure, but Hunter Biden is a public figure who has been the subject of multiple investigations and is now a convicted felon. In accordance with the First Amendment, Fox News has accurately covered newsworthy events created by Mr. Biden himself, and we look forward to asserting our rights in court,” the emailed statement said.

Hunter Biden was found guilty last month on three counts related to the purchase of a revolver in 2018. Prosecutors argued at the time that the president’s son had lied on a mandatory gun purchase form and stated that he was neither an illegal drug user nor a drug addict.

The show’s mock trial involved charges of bribery and improper financial dealings with foreign governments – charges that were not brought against Hunter Biden, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages, as well as an order directing Fox to remove all copies of the explicit images.

The lawsuit alleges that Fox did not completely remove the promotional materials and that the show remains available on some third-party streaming platforms.