A few months ago, Disney made headlines when, rather than settling a wrongful death lawsuit, it argued that theme park guests waived their right to take it to court when they signed up for Disney Plus trials.
But Mickey Mouse appears to have had a change of heart on paying plaintiffs. Disney is now writing a multimillion-dollar settlement check to avoid litigating a defensible defamation lawsuit by Donald Trump. The president-elect claims Disney’s ABC News defamed him by saying he was found liable for “rape” when a jury really found he had committed sexual abuse.
Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) Director of Advocacy Seth Stern helped successfully defend the Chicago Sun-Times in a virtually identical case over 10 years ago. A judge threw out a Northwestern professor’s suit over a headline that said he was accused of rape rather than sexual assault.
“Find me the person or company that’s eager to do business with alleged sexual assailants and abusers but draws the line at alleged rapists,” Stern wrote in the Sun-Times, questioning whether Disney prioritized the interests of its nonmedia holdings over the First Amendment.
“Back in the days when news outlets were owned by news companies, a strong First Amendment was fundamental to their economic interests. Unless they’d messed up badly, they rarely settled, even when it would be cheaper than litigating. It’s fair to question whether that equation changes when news comprises just a fraction of ownership’s holdings.”
