TownHall sues Scene over report on GM’s bigoted statement to former employee: “Go back to the country you came from”—Cleveland Scene
Scene has retained attorney Peter Pattakos to represent it in this lawsuit, who has issued the following statement:
“TownHall has advanced an incredible legal theory—that it should be entitled to damages for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress because its manager made a bigoted comment about a Ukrainian immigrant, and not a black woman as Scene had mistakenly but reasonably believed for about an hour before it revised its column. This is a classic example of an abusive lawsuit by a wealthy business owner intended to silence negative reporting about his business. With the journalism industry as challenged as it is today, especially in Cleveland, the good news here might be that Scene is more likely to recover on counterclaims against TownHall than TownHall is to recover a penny against Scene. We expect that Ohio courts will not look kindly on Mr. George’s stunt here, and look forward to vindicating Scene’s work and the First Amendment in this lawsuit.”