Here at 2oceansvibe, we know a thing or two about lawyer’s letters.
Perhaps our most (in)famous such letter came from a rather well-known food blogger, who was at the time running a guesthouse in Camps Bay.
We have moved on because we’re the bigger people (metaphorically speaking), and it’s safe to say that most of the lawyer’s letters sent out are nothing more than attempts to intimidate.
In the case of John Oliver, the host of Last Week Tonight, coal tycoon Bob Murray did actually follow through.
Before we get on to John reopening old wounds, over to TIME:
As you may recall, Murray had sued Last Week Tonight over a 2017 segment in which they joked that he looked like “a geriatric Dr. Evil”… In addition to seeking a giant sum of money, the lawsuit also sought a gag order to prevent the network from rebroadcasting the show or having the episode available online…
Oliver told the audience that he believes “winning the case was never really [Murray’s] goal.” Instead, it was a so-called SLAPP suit, with SLAPP being an acronym for a “strategic lawsuit against public participation;” in other words, a lawsuit intended to punish and intimidate critics.
“The whole point is to put the defendant through a difficult, painful experience,” Oliver said. Such suits can be used as a scare tactic to silence journalists as well as citizen activists.
John is lucky to host a show with the resources to fight back, although it did cost them around $200 000, and their libel insurance premiums have now gone through the roof.
If you do what The Late Show does, of course, you’re going to be in the crosshairs.
Oh, and you really do need to stick around until the end for the musical number. It’s one for the ages:
[source:time]
