The same day his father, Joe Biden, announced that he would drop out of the 2024 presidential race, Hunter Biden voluntarily dropped his lawsuit against Fox News that had alleged the network’s inclusion of sexually graphic photos of Hunter Biden in a fictionalized “mock trial” miniseries about him violated revenge porn laws.
According to the notice filed with the court Sunday (July 21), Hunter Biden, “by and through his undersigned counsel, hereby gives notice that the above-captioned action is voluntarily dismissed, without prejudice, against the defendants Fox News Network, LLC, Fox Corporation, and John and Jane Does 1-100.” The dropping of the case “without prejudice” means it may be refiled at a later date.
A lawyer representing Biden did not respond to a request for additional comment.
Hunter Biden’s suit against Fox News was originally filed June 30 in New York Supreme Court but was moved to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
A representative for Fox News cited the network’s previous statement issued after Biden’s suit was filed, which said: “This entirely politically motivated lawsuit is devoid of merit. The core complaint stems from a 2022 streaming program that Mr. Biden did not complain about until sending a letter in late April 2024. The program was removed within days of the letter, in an abundance of caution, but Hunter Biden is a public figure who has been the subject of multiple investigations and is now a convicted felon. Consistent with the First Amendment, Fox News has accurately covered the newsworthy events of Mr. Biden’s own making, and we look forward to vindicating our rights in court.”
Fox News debuted “The Trial of Hunter Biden: A Mock Trial for the American People” on the Fox Nation streaming service in October 2022. The network described the six-part series, which included several sexually graphic images of Hunter Biden, as a mock trial portraying “how a possible Hunter Biden trial might look.” In April 2024, Fox News removed the series after being contacted by Biden’s attorneys, saying it was “reviewing the concerns that have just been raised” about the series.
Hunter Biden’s lawsuit alleged that Fox knew that its use of the “intimate images” of Biden in “The Trial of Hunter Biden” series “would violate New York state’s revenge porn laws” and that “The unauthorized publication and dissemination of the intimate images has caused Mr. Biden severe emotional distress, humiliation, and mental anguish, as well as irreparable injury to his personal and professional reputation.”
Hunter Biden had been convicted in June of lying about his drug use to buy a gun and illegally possessing a firearm. His lawyers have said he plans to appeal the felony conviction. The Fox Nation “mock trial” series about Hunter Biden examined whether he violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act and whether he committed bribery. Biden’s lawsuit pointed out that he not been charged with either offense.
