Chris Rufo Gets Daily Beast To Back Down On Allegedly Defamatory Article Slamming Him
Daily Beast “correction” issued: “Editor’s Note: The headline of this story has been updated to delete that Rufo is open to working with racists and fascists, which Rufo had explicitly denied. We have updated the story accordingly and added comment from Rufo.”
News site The Daily Beast made substantial corrections on Friday to an article about “anti-woke activist” and New College of Florida board member Christopher Rufo. The changes came shortly after Rufo publicly threatened legal action.
The corrected article, which now criticizes Rufo for his choice of “terrible allies,” originally accused him of being “open to working with racists and fascists.”
Rufo called the author “an absolute embarrassment to journalism” after “editors had to retract his key claims”:
The Daily Beast's @jaredlholt has now deleted the tweet featuring his false and defamatory article against me, after his editors had to retract his key claims. An absolute embarrassment to journalism. pic.twitter.com/YPFXsKA8Cy
— Christopher F. Rufo
(@realchrisrufo) October 6, 2023
The Daily Beast published the original article on October 6 at 4:17 AM. At 3:03 PM, Rufo took to Twitter with threats of legal action over “a false, malicious, and defamatory article”:
The Daily Beast has published a false, malicious, and defamatory article accusing me of "being open to working with racists and fascists." In fact, I have argued precisely the opposite. I have asked my attorney at Dhillon Law Group to prepare for legal action. pic.twitter.com/pWXlCl3C7o
— Christopher F. Rufo
Rufo encouraged Twitter users to “send a polite but firm email to the Daily Beast editors demanding a correction to this false and defamatory article.”
The Daily Beast corrected the article at 5:14 PM, revising the headline from “Influential Anti-Woke Activist Is Open to Working With Racists and Fascists” to “Influential Anti-Woke Activist Is Open to Terrible Allies.”
An attorney at the firm representing Rufo suggested the corrections came to avoid substantial damages for defamation:
I see @thedailybeast is doing damage control to mitigate potential damages large enough to force the company into bankruptcy. https://t.co/6DXgoMJmjB
— Matt Sarelson, Esq. – Dhillon Law Group, Inc. (@MSarelson) October 7, 2023
The Daily Beast also added an editor’s note explaining its corrections:
Editor’s Note: The headline of this story has been updated to delete that Rufo is open to working with racists and fascists, which Rufo had explicitly denied. We have updated the story accordingly and added comment from Rufo.
The Daily Beast corrected a paragraph implying Rufo silently approved of conservatives aligning with white nationalists. During a Rufo chat on Twitter Spaces, an unnamed user “floated an ear-burning idea” that “mainstream conservative movements should want to align with [a white nationalist] to ‘destroy the power of the left.'”
The Daily Beast originally reported that “at no point in the conversation did Rufo say he disagreed with the speaker’s proposal.” The corrected article notes that while “Rufo did not vocally disagree with that particular speaker’s proposal,” Rufo did “denounce white nationalist Richard Spencer” later in the conversation.
The corrected article included a lengthy statement Rufo sent after the article’s publication. In the statement, Rufo chastised The Daily Beast for mischaracterizing his views, citing his public disavowal of “right-wing racialism.”
Despite the corrections, Rufo still objected to the article:
There are still some false and defamatory details in the body of the story, for which I have further requested correction.
— Christopher F. Rufo
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Comments
Good for Rufo, proceed to lawsuit, bankrupt them
Either restore basic common sense to libel/slander/defamation or bring back dueling. No one should be able to make accusations or claims against another absent sufficient evidence to justify the claim without some serious repercussions. Serious enough consequences to give them pause before making the claim as they ponder the risk/reward ratio.
For over 12 hours the position of The Daily Beast was the Chris Rufo was ” open to working with racists and fascists,”
When I first saw this, I thought it meant that Rufo was open to working with people on the Left.
On a side note, what’s wrong with working with racists? They seem to be the only people operating with clear-eyed logic in the real world.
Daily Beast is notorious for never correcting their stories or backing down. Good on Rufo for fighting back