HuffPost contributor Yashar Ali is demanding Fox News host Eric Bolling dismiss his lawsuit over a report detailing allegations that Bolling sent lewd photos to female colleagues.
In a letter to Bolling’s attorney, Ali’s lawyer Patricia Glaser slammed the $50 million defamation suit as a “frivolous” public relations stunt that has “tarnished Mr. Ali’s reputation and incited Mr. Bolling’s supporters to post racist tirades against Mr. Ali on his Facebook page.”{mosads}
The lawsuit, she wrote, is without merit and “does not identify which purportedly ‘false and misleading’ statements could possibly support a $50 million damages award.”
Copied on the letter is Dianne Brandi, Fox News’ executive vice president of legal and business affairs. Ali posted a copy of the letter on his Twitter account Friday.
The article, published last Friday on HuffPost, details allegations that Bolling sent photos of male genitalia to two female coworkers at Fox.
In a statement included in the article, Bolling’s attorney Michael Bowe said the Fox News host “recalls no such inappropriate communications, does not believe he sent any such communications, and will vigorously pursue his legal remedies for any false and defamatory accusations that are made.”
Bolling was suspended from Fox a day after the article was published and the network launched an investigation into the matter.
In her letter, Glaser argued that there are no grounds for a defamation suit, because there is no evidence Ali acted with “actual malice” – something public figures suing for defamation must prove.
“We welcome the opportunity to depose Mr. Bolling and review his message history, as we presume that you have instructed him to preserve communications,” Glaser wrote. “We are also confident that Paul Weiss’s internal Fox investigation will corroborate Mr. Ali’s article.”