Ray Epps, a Trump supporter whose lawyers filed a defamation lawsuit against Fox News on Wednesday alleging that his life had been turned upside down by the network’s false claims about his role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, is part of a disturbing pattern for the right-wing propaganda channel.
Fox’s desperate need to cater to its MAGA viewers leads inexorably to its propagandists pushing vile conspiracy theories that end up harming the regular people and companies targeted by its attacks. And when those ill-conceived salvos turn out to be duds, they get the network in legal trouble.
Epps’ lawsuit tells a powerful story about the network’s malfeasance.
“In the aftermath of the events of January 6th, Fox News searched for a scapegoat to blame other than Donald Trump or the Republican Party,” it states. “Eventually, they turned on one of their own, telling a fantastical story in which Ray Epps—who was a Trump supporter that participated in the protests on January 6th—was an undercover FBI agent and was responsible for the mob that violently broke into the Capitol and interfered with the peaceful transition of power for the first time in this country's history.”
The lawsuit details numerous instances in which Fox furthered these claims. Many — but hardly all — of them come from former network star Tucker Carlson, who was particularly obsessed with the Epps saga as he sought to generate a sinister, fraudulent alternate narrative in which the true victims of January 6 were its participants and its true villains the federal “agents provocateurs” he claimed generated the attack as a pretext to purge righteous conservative patriots.
Epps’ lawyers detail the “astronomical” toll he faced as an average person suddenly becoming one of the network’s main characters.
They write that Epps and his wife “received threatening voicemails, emails, and text messages,” including death threats, and they “found bullet casings in their yard.” As a result, they were forced to sell their home and give up the location of their wedding-site and dog-grooming businesses and are currently living in hiding in an RV.
“The emotional and psychological effects of the threats and attacks cannot be overstated,” the lawsuit states. ”Indeed, they may very well dwarf the economic consequences.”
Epps isn’t alone – he is merely the latest victim of Fox’s business model, which relies on keeping its right-wing viewers happy by providing a zealous defense of former President Donald Trump, no matter the cost. Typically, the network’s lies and deceptions go after high-profile people and entities: Democratic politicians, prominent figures in media or business, Fortune 500 companies, and the like.
But when people like Epps and low-profile businesses find themselves targeted in this manner, the impact can be staggering. They are hounded by the network’s fervent fans, leading to economic losses and psychological damage. And their recourse is to sue Fox, garnering some high-profile settlements. Here are a few recent cases.