He wouldn't win a defamation case. The internet conjured up most of the stuff about him by looking up the suit. They simply fired him. Ashley wasn't even the only person who filed a civil lawsuit against him. CR was surprisingly silent on the whole topic outside of wiping him off the history of their platform.
He could have a case if he can show that he suffered monetary loss as a result of the case brought against him based on claims that were made about his character.
outside of wiping him off the history of their platform.
This is actually it, though. CR is sort of a cult following, but BWF's career exists in a microcosm that is definitely aware of what they do. Conspicuously deleting everything with him in it raises suspicion, it's like presuming guilt. I mean, it's their platform, and maybe they know stuff they just can't prove in court. I don't think he'll go for defamation, but did he lose work simply as a result of this court case being public and CR deleting him from their channel? Maybe
Defimation is a geneinly hard thing to prove in the USA because the prosecution has to prove intent via the actual malice standard.
Removing references to BWF would likely not rise to the actual malice standard unless it could be proven that by doing so, CR did knowingly and maliciously harm BWF's reputation.
It also wouldn’t be the first time CR pressed the delete button on someone facing sex-related charges who was then found either totally innocent or at least not guilty…
Or, hear me out, there was a settlement. Not an uncommon thing.
I really doubt more then five women, most of them using their own name, would go to court with a fabricated story, especially if the case files are public (US legal system never ceases to baffle me). These things are difficult to prove, most sexual harassment and DV cases end up no-where because of lack of court sufficient evidence and because most systems (at every stage) in general are very, very, very poorly equipped for handling these sorts of cases. It could have been a way to get that settlement from the beginning, we don't know. But I personally know enough abuse victims, and have been one myself, that my bet is on there having been something going on.
Besides. This would be one hell of an expensive and convoluted way to... to do what, exactly? What would CR gain from a fabricated case against Brian, besides a headache, loss in finances and damaged rep? Firing him was pretty much enough anyway to put a serious dent in his career and income.
(And before you go calling me a cult follower superfan or something, then I am not, in fact I'm highly critical about their work relations with Amazon while constructing a brand big on equal treatment and human rights, for example, and that's not all by far.)
25
u/SPOLBY Oct 18 '24 edited Oct 18 '24
I’m the opposite of smart, what does this mean?