An Arizona man named James Ray Epps is suing Fox News Media and its former primetime star host Tucker Carlson for defamation.
The New York Times first reported the news.
Epps’ lawsuit against Fox News, which does not reveal the monetary amount being sought, alleges that the network and Carlson falsely made him out to be an undercover government agent who instigated the January 6, 2021 violence at the U.S. Capitol in an effort to disparage then-President Trump and his supporters.
The conspiracy theory has since caught fire.
Epps’ complaint details Fox News’ role, saying its part “in creating and disseminating destructive conspiracy theories has already been well documented. Perhaps most notoriously, in the days following the 2020 presidential election, Fox broadcast amplified and endorsed false claims about a rigged election.”
In the lawsuit, Epps and his wife, Robyn Epps, describe themselves as loyal Fox viewers, fans of Carlson and “other personalities.” They say they voted for Trump in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections and believed that the 2020 election had been stolen from the former president.
They both attended the protest in Washington, D.C., on January 6, with Epps, a former Marine, saying his presence at the Capitol during the insurrection was to try “and diffuse the situation.”
Days after the insurrection, Epps discovered his name and picture were featured on the FBI website. He subsequently met with FBI officials in March and, around July 2021, had his picture taken down from the bureau’s website.
The story of Epps and Fox News begins after this period as the lawsuit alleges “Fox and specifically Mr. Carlson decided that Epps was the villain they needed to distract from the Dominion lawsuit and their culpability for stoking the fire that led to the events of January 6th.”
The lawsuit continues adding, “Mr. Carlson’s spreading false and unfound lies about Epps promoted the United States House Select Committee on the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol ( January 6th Committee ) to interview Epps under oath, review the evidence, and put out a statement confirming that Epps was not a federal agent.”
Epps’ lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court in Delaware, the same venue where Fox News was scheduled to have its Dominion Voting Systems trial in April but settled with them on the trial’s first day for $787.5 million.
Interestingly enough, Epps has hired the same local Delaware attorney that Dominion tapped in its case against the network.
As of publication time, Fox News has not responded to a request for comment about this latest defamation lawsuit. However, it reportedly has moved to change the trial’s location from Delaware Superior Court to the Federal District Court in Wilmington, Del.
These lawsuits are proving costly for Fox News Media. In addition to the $787.5 million settlement with Dominion, the network just settled a $12 million lawsuit with Abby Grossberg, the former head of booking for Tucker Carlson, at the end of June. Grossberg claimed that Fox News and Carlson operated a hostile and discriminatory workplace, permitting a workplace culture of sexual harassment and misogyny.
And still waiting in the wings is the $2.7 billion lawsuit filed by Smartmatic. The election technology company filed its lawsuit in 2021, accusing Fox News Media and some of the company’s on-air talent—Lou Dobbs, Jeanine Pirro, and Maria Bartiromo—along with Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell of intentionally lying about the voting technology company in an effort to mislead the public into the false belief that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Trump.
Pending the outcome of this latest lawsuit, Fox News will likely have to pay additional money via trial decision or settlement.