Reza Aslan to Face the Music
For Calling Nick Sandmann's
Face 'Punchable' In Now-Deleted Tweet
PJ Media,
by
Tyler O´Neil
Original Article
Posted By: Hazymac,
1/9/2020 8:19:25 AM
One day after news broke that CNN settled a defamation lawsuit on behalf of Covington Catholic teen Nick Sandmann, Robert Barnes announced he had sued author, producer, and show host Reza Aslan for Aslan's tweet describing Sandmann's face as "punchable." The lawsuit, which Barnes provided to PJ Media, would slap Aslan with a minimum of $135,000 in damages.
When video of Sandmann supposedly smirking at a Native American man outside the March for Life went viral last year, Aslan infamously tweeted, "Honest question. Have you ever seen a more punchable face than this kid's?" [Tweet] Nearly exactly one year after posting the tweet, Aslan had finally deleted it on Wednesday.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Safari Man 1/9/2020 8:37:27 AM (No. 283090)
Yeah, Azlan is much more punchable.
15 people like this.
Someone else who needs a comeuppance is that pickled old Injun who started the whole nasty incident. He definitely harassed, intimidated and threatened a minor child. The only consequence I’ve seen him suffer for bullying a minor child are obsequious tongue baths from the MSM. Uurkkk!
24 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
anniebc 1/9/2020 8:57:17 AM (No. 283121)
You can run but you can't hide, Aslan. You dished it, now, it's tiime for your arse to cash.
12 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Sunhan65 1/9/2020 9:02:12 AM (No. 283131)
I know I'm in the minority on this one, but suing people because you don't like what they say about you isn't exactly the American way either. I don't like the way the kids were treated, and I don't like Aslan. However, he is expressing an opinion here. In my opinion, it was uninformed, unfair, and irresponsible, but my opinions don't get to decide what other Americans get to say. If the courts are going to get involved every time someone says something controversial or insulting, we're going to have a lot more rich lawyers and a lot less free speech.
9 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Knotwyrkin 1/9/2020 9:14:38 AM (No. 283152)
Just as any properly raised 12 year old knows you don't yell fire in a theater or there will be consequences, the Left needs to learn that free speech, while free, can have consequences.
13 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
JunkYardDog 1/9/2020 9:43:54 AM (No. 283183)
Re #4
If I am a news reporter, sharing my thoughts with the public via network news/Twitter/Internet, and my opinion is that someone 'has a punchable face' then I must share responsibility if someone actually acts upon my opinion and punches that person. The difference here is that Aslan advocated violence, not merely an opinion.
28 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
DW626 1/9/2020 9:45:02 AM (No. 283186)
Well...talk is cheap, but Twitter not so much.
1 person likes this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Skeptical1 1/9/2020 10:03:46 AM (No. 283213)
What #6 said. Plus, by tacitly encouraging violence against a child, I think Aslan is guilty of some kind of tort, even if it is not defamation. Sandman and his family were placed at risk and were required (I assume) to take burdensome and expensive measures to assure the boy's safety.
20 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Sunhan65 1/9/2020 10:47:10 AM (No. 283239)
I'm genuinely sympathetic to what #6 and #9 say. Three quick thoughts, and then I'll step out. First -- and I realize it's a bit of thin slicing on my part -- Aslan is not a reporter. He's an over-promoted academic and professional pain in the neck expressing stupid opinions on his Twitter feed. We have a lot of that these days.
Second, in purely legal terms, I believe there is a difference between actually advocating violence and what he actually said. As I said, it was unfair and irresponsible, and he lost his job over it. I don't like the lawyers getting involved.
Third, and I'm not trying to be cute here, I happened to like reply #1 on this thread. Does that make me complicit and liable if someone actually punches Aslan?
2 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Starboard_side 1/9/2020 11:24:59 AM (No. 283286)
I would like to see them also sue every single Twitter user who pushed, re-tweeted, or commented on their own slanderous things about this young man. And, I'd be looking at those on Facebook too.
By making them all hire lawyers just to fight the lawsuit will possibly cause some to think twice about what they comment on, and how hateful their rhetoric and actions are.
4 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
cor-vet 1/9/2020 11:29:47 AM (No. 283293)
I hope they include those Catholic boys' Bishop in the lawsuits, since he was so quick to side against them. His was the most reprehensible action to me, since they were Catholic kids from a Catholic school on a Right-to-Life march! He jumped in with both feet, before he had the facts, and the fact that he was their Bishop, gave some legitimacy to the charges.
17 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
DVC 1/9/2020 12:20:59 PM (No. 283377)
I had to look up on the web to see what a "Reza Aslan" is. Are there no more normal Americans who work in the Enemedia? And I discovered that this puke is an Iranian....so doubly the enemy.
9 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
BigGeorgeTX 1/9/2020 6:51:26 PM (No. 283811)
I guess he finally took it down because of the judgement against CNN, but too late. I guess he's going to have to come up with six figures of so. I'm loving this and need to run out for more popcorn.
3 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
Penny Spencer 1/9/2020 8:47:21 PM (No. 283888)
This case concerns a situation that goes far beyond the bounds of "not liking what people say." The law makes a clear distinction between published remarks that are simply unflattering and those that, by virtue of their falsehood, actually damage a person's reputation. The latter is called libel and it is actionable.
The comments made by numerous people about Sandmann and the other students resulted in the boys being held up to nationwide ridicule, hostility, and verbal attacks. They were publicly condemned in the media and even by the bishop of their diocese. These false stories did lasting damage to them in a variety of ways and went beyond what is legally allowed as a matter of free speech.
4 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Bohallx 1/13/2020 2:18:54 PM (No. 287494)
Too many people forget that "The American Way" of settling personal disputes was the DUEL.
Along the way dueling was prohibited by law (although it's still Constitutionally acceptable), and offended folks could duke it out in court with libel and slander suits if they wished, or newspaper to newspaper!
I'm still not convinced we did the right thing by disestablishing dueling. Certainly the President of CNN would be much more careful if he knew he might be up against 500 to 1000 "offended" young men every week.... wishing to settle grievances.
At the same time, the President of CNN would have had much more authority in the corporate chain of command if they understood death might possibly ensue from leading the boss astray!
0 people like this.
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