20 December 2024
DEFAMATION (US) – Netflix faces defamation lawsuit over The Manhattan Alien Abduction
A woman who says she was abducted by aliens in 1989 is suing Netflix for portraying her story as an elaborate hoax in its recent three part series The Manhattan Alien Abduction.
Linda Napolitano claims she was beamed onto a spaceship before being subjected to ‘quasi-medical procedures’ and Netflix has defamed her by casting doubt on her ordeal.
Napolitano’s story had previously been the subject of a book by a UFO researcher called Budd Hopkins who said he spoke to a number of people who witnessed the abduction.
Hopkins reported in his book that over 20 people saw Napolitano levitate out of her 12 floor Manhattan flat into a spacecraft although he didn’t name any of the witnesses.
Napolitano first met Hopkins after she contacted him about another incident in which she found a strange bump on her nose and joined a support group he ran for abductees.
Hopkins’ wife at the time, Carole Rainey, also initially believed Napolitano and sought to investigate her abduction but became increasingly sceptical about her story over time.
Rainey, who appeared in the Netflix series, said she eventually decided that Hopkins had lost his objectivity and she would continue to ask questions about the incident.
Hopkins died in 2011 and Rainey died in 2023, shortly before the release of the series.
The programme makers allowed Napolitano to view the series before broadcast. She objected to her portrayal and tried, unsuccessfully, to stop its release in October 2024.
Despite that setback, Napolitano is still suing Netflix, the programme makers and Rainey’s estate, claiming that the series is defamatory of her, among other things.
In the lawsuit Napolitano says she was depicted as a villain for “controversy and conflict” in “a patently and deliberately false portrayal to support the false narrative of the truth.”
Hopkins’ estate, and a man who is a former friend of Hopkins, have also joined Napolitano’s claim. zoom-in will continue to follow developments with interest over the coming months.
DEFAMATION (US) – ABC News agrees to settle defamation claim brought by Donald Trump
ABC News has agreed to pay $15m to settle a defamation claim brought by Donald Trump after one of its news presenters said the president elect had been found “liable for rape”.
The comment was made by George Stephanopoulos in a March 2024 episode of This Week in which he was questioning US congresswoman Nancy May about her support for Trump.
Stephanopoulos said – in reference to Trump - "judges and two separate juries have found him liable for rape". Stephanopoulos repeated the claim 10 times throughout the broadcast.
In 2023 a jury in a civil trial found that Trump had sexually abused the columnist E Jean Carroll in New York in 1996 - but it rejected the more serious claim that Trump had raped Carroll.
The judge in that case said that Carroll had failed to convince the jury that Trump raped her "within the narrow, technical meaning of a particular section of the New York Penal Law".
That section of law defines “rape” as “vaginal penetration by a penis” whereas penetration “by fingers, other body parts, or other articles or materials” is merely “sexual abuse”.
As part of the settlement, ABC has agreed to donate $15 million to Trump’s future presidential library, pay $1 million towards his legal fees and publish a statement on its website.
The statement will say: "ABC News and George Stephanopoulos regret statements regarding President Donald J Trump made during an interview by George Stephanopoulos with Rep. Nancy Mace on ABC's This Week on March 10, 2024."
DEFAMATION (US) – Irish Republican bomber says she will sue over Disney’s Say Nothing
In yet another case where real people have been depicted in a drama series, veteran Irish Republican Marian Price reportedly intends to sue Disney+ for defamation after she was portrayed shooting Jean McConville in its nine-part historical drama series about the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland, Say Nothing.
Price gained prominence when she was convicted for her role in an IRA car bombing campaign in London in 1973 which injured 200 people and included the bombing of the Old Bailey. Price was sentenced to two life terms but was released in 1980 under Royal prerogative.
Jean McConville’s death is one of the most high-profile unsolved killings of the Troubles. She was known as one of the “Disappeared”, a group of 17 people who were believed to have been abducted, killed and secretly buried by Republican paramilitaries. Her body was not found until 2003, more than 30 years after her death. Nobody has been prosecuted for the murder.
In one scene in the series, Price and her late sister Dolours are apparently shown standing behind McConville who is kneeling over a freshly dug grave. Price is shown taking a handgun from her sister and letting off a shot before McConville falls into the grave.
Price, also known by her married name Marian McGlinchey, denies any involvement.
A solicitor representing Price, said: “Given the context, it is difficult to envisage a more egregious allegation than the one to which has been levelled against our client.” “Our client has now been forced to initiate legal proceedings to hold Disney to account for their actions.”
Disney has not yet publicly commented on the proceedings.
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