Yashar Ali, the freelance writer who published an article last week containing allegations of sexual harassment concerning Fox News personality Eric Bolling, has fired back after being hit with a $50 million defamation suit upon spurring the host’s suspension.
Patty Glaser, the writer’s attorney, responded to the lawsuit in a letter Friday urging Mr. Bolling to either dismiss the litigation immediately or risk being dragged over the coals under oath.
“Continuing litigation will only reveal that Mr. Bolling’s lawsuit was filed for public relations purposes and to retaliate against Mr. Ali for uncovering the truth,” Ms. Glaser wrote in a letter shared by his client’s Twitter account Friday evening.
“Mr. Ali conducted a thorough investigation and verified his information with 14 independent sources,” she wrote. “Furthermore, truth is always a defense to defamation.”
In an article published by HuffPost on Friday, Aug. 4, Mr. Ali wrote that his sources said that Mr. Bolling had sent an unsolicited photograph of male genitalia to at least three current or former Fox News colleagues. The network indefinitely suspended Mr. Bolling the following day pending the results of an internal probe, and the host sued Mr. Ali this past Wednesday in a Manhattan court.
“This anonymously sourced and uncorroborated story is false, defamatory and obviously intended to destroy this good man’s career and family,” Mr. Bolling’s lawyer, Michael J. Bowe, said at the time. “We will defend Eric aggressively in court, where actual facts, based on evidence, testimony and cross-examination, will belie these anonymous accusations.”
Ms. Glaser responded Friday calling the suit “utterly devoid of merit” while blasting Mr. Bolling for pursuing the article’s author in lieu of its publisher.
“We view your decision to sue Mr. Ali in his individual capacity, for $50 million, without also naming the Huffington Post, as a calculated effort to harass and intimidate Mr. Ali personally,” she wrote.
HuffPost editor-in-chief Lydia Polgreen previously described Mr. Ali as a “careful and meticulous reporter” and said the website has “no hesitation” with regards to funding his defense.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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