OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The ABC Daytime talk show “The View” could find itself in legal jeopardy as it has been hit with a cease and desist order.
They demanded that ABC News, whose parent company is Disney, immediately “retract the defamatory statements” made on its show about the group.
“The false statements of fact intentionally made during The View’s July 25th segment were unquestionably harmful to TPUSA’s reputation and brought the organization and its student affiliates into disrepute with the public, potential donors, and current and future business partners, posing a significant financial loss to the organization,” it said, Fox News reported.
The letter was addressed to ABC News New York bureau chief Joshua Hoyos and ABC assistant chief counsel Ian Rosenberg.
“The View hosts intentionally and falsely associated TPUSA with neo-Nazi protesters outside the event placing TPUSA in denigrating and false light and negatively impacting its public perception,” the letter said. “Such action will not be tolerated.”
The cohosts were speaking about TPUSA’s Student Action Summit in Tampa, Florida that was held this past weekend with major notable attendees that included Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“Neo-Nazis were out there in the front of the conference with anti-Semitic slurs and, you know, the Nazi swastika and a picture of a so-called Jewish person with exaggerated features, just like Goebbels did during the Third Reich. It’s the same thing, right out of that same playbook,” host Joy Behar said.
It was then that host Sara Haines read a letter from TPUSA denouncing the supposed Nazis, but that did not work for host Whoopi Goldberg.
“But you let them in, and you knew what they were,” she said, which was a lie as the supposed Neo-Nazis were outside the building protesting.
When the show went live again Goldberg backtracked.
“I wanna make a quick clarification about the neo-Nazis at the Turning Point event. They were outside protesters. My point was more metaphorical – you embraced them at your thing, I felt. So, I just – they were not in the building,” she said.
“Lemme just make sure that everybody – cause you know misunderstanding what people say is very big. So we wanna make sure – I know they were not in the building but they were in the mix of people at the thing,” she said.
THREAD: Yesterday, @TheView & Whoopi Goldberg smeared and lied about TPUSA regarding an incident where supposed “nazis” showed up outside of the Student Action Summit. pic.twitter.com/9xonX9jC25
— Turning Point USA (@TPUSA) July 26, 2022
While they were forced by their legal department to correct two of these misrepresentations live on air, Whoopi continued to insist that TPUSA somehow welcomed “nazis” into our event “metaphorically.” pic.twitter.com/320UV0aH0G
— Turning Point USA (@TPUSA) July 26, 2022
The attorney for TPUSA, Veronica Peterson, said that the on air disclaimers read by the hosts did not satisfy the organization.
“The View hosts intentionally and falsely associated TPUSA with neo-Nazi protestors outside the event placing TPUSA in denigrating and false light and negatively impacting its public perception. Such action will not be tolerated,” the attorney said.
“Specifically, The View hosts insidiously and cavalierly stated that TPUSA ‘let [neo-Nazis] in’ to its SAS event, metaphorically ‘embrase[d] them’ and that neo-Nazis were ‘in the mix of people.’ The assertion that TPUSA is complicit or affiliated in any way with the neo-Nazi protesters outside the event is outlandish, false, defamatory, and disgraceful,” the attorney said. “Even after Ms. Haines reluctantly read the TPUSA statement that it condemns the group of neo-Nazis and that the group had nothing to do with TPUSA, its event, or its student attendees, Ms. Goldberg continues the false tirade against TPUSA, asserting that somehow the organization and its attendees were ‘complicit’ and/or associated with the outside protest.”
“To be abundantly clear, TPUSA aggressively and completely condemns the ideologies of neo-Nazism and has zero connection to the protestors outside the event. Since these individuals were located on public property, TPUSA security attempted to, but was not permitted to remove them,” she said.
“In cases where the communication is of such a nature that the court can presume as a matter of law that the communication will tend to degrade or disgrace the party defamed, special damages are presumed,” she said. “Therefore, TPUSA demands that ABC immediately cease and desist from further unlawfully defaming TPUSA, retract the defamatory statements identified above, and issue a public statement apologizing for and correcting the above defamatory and false statements.”
The attorney said that the show had until July 27 to issue a retraction and apology.
“Should ABC decide not to comply with the demands above, TPUSA is prepared to promptly take all steps necessary to protect its rights, including pursuing all available legal remedies, seeking monetary and non-monetary damages, injunctive relief, and attorneys’ fees and costs,” she said.
