[Trang Ánh Nam] New comment on Todd McMurty says: "we cannot tolerate a media est....

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STATEMENTS OF OPINION VS. FACTS

Many celebrities wasted little time taking to the Internet to tear into the Covington students as the viral video circulated in January. A particular target was Sandmann, whom Maher on his HBO show labeled a "smirk-face kid."

"I don't blame the kid, the smirk-face kid. I blame lead poisoning and bad parenting. And, oh yeah, I blame the f---ing kid," he said.

Others soon joined in on the criticism, with "Will and Grace" actress Debra Messing sharing an image of Sandmann with the caption "mocking, condescending, disrespecting, A—HOLE" and comedian Kathy Griffin urging her followers to "name these kids" and "shame them."

Only some of the celebs – such as film producer Jack Morrissey, who initially posted a gory cartoon with the caption "#MAGAkids go screaming, hats first, into the woodchipper" – issued apologies and deleted their messages.

McMurtry told Fox News that "certainly CNN and Bill Maher did things that we consider to have crossed the line."

"We think that the statements they made are defamatory, they're not humorous and so certainly Bill Maher is somebody we are looking at very carefully and HBO for allowing him to make those defamatory statements," he said.

However, if Sandmann's attorneys pursue lawsuits against these organizations and other institutions similar to The Washington Post, what judges deem as fact and what they decide is opinion could end up making or breaking the case.

"Opinions are not statements of falsity," Lawrence told Fox News. "If I say 'my neighbor is a creep' it may not be nice… but it's an opinion."

Ben Zipursky, a professor at Fordham Law School, also says defendants would likely raise questions as to whether the statements are defamatory at all, and that The Washington Post lawsuit might wade into the opinion vs. fact debate, too.

"Those are the kinds of issues that the Washington Post lawyers are going to want to push on early because they provide an opportunity to get rid of the case entirely," he told Fox News.

The newspaper, in its only comment so far on the lawsuit, said earlier last week it is "reviewing a copy of [it], and we plan to mount a vigorous defense."

Ultimately, Wood says: "things have got to change and there has got to be accountability."

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Posted by Trang Ánh Nam to Trang Ánh Nam at February 26, 2019 at 7:35 AM