Ray Epps, the Arizona man that conspiracy theorists falsely claim led an FBI plot to orchestrate the January 6 insurrection, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against Fox News, accusing the right-wing channel and former host Tucker Carlson of defamation.
“In the aftermath of the events of January 6th, Fox News searched for a scapegoat to blame other than Donald Trump or the Republican Party,” the lawsuit said. “Eventually, they turned on one of their own.”
Spokespeople for Fox News did not immediately return a request for comment. Neither did Carlson.
The lawsuit from Epps comes after his lawyer demanded a retraction in March over the “fanciful notion” Carlson advanced on his show.
In the aftermath of the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, conspiracy theorists baselessly suggested that the assault was a so-called “false flag” operation staged by the federal government to make supporters of then-President Donald Trump look bad.
As part of that conspiracy theory, some right-wing figures falsely claimed Epps was part of a secret FBI plot to orchestrate the attack.
Carlson repeatedly breathed life into those conspiracies by giving them attention on his highly rated program. On many occasions, Carlson specifically mentioned Epps on his show, and played footage from January 6 of Epps outside the Capitol.
“Fox’s lies about Epps reached hundreds of millions of people and caused enormous harm to Epps,” the lawsuit said, accusing the network of running a “years-long campaign spreading falsehoods” about him that “destroyed” his life.
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Article URL : https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/12/media/fox-news-defamation-ray-epps/index.html