A defamation lawsuit against Fox News host Jeanine Pirro brought by Black Lives Matter activist DeRay McKesson was dismissed on Tuesday because Pirro “is known” for her “caustic commentary,” according to the judge.
“I’m obviously disappointed. But as Fox argued and the judge recognized, when you have a certain reputation less is expected of you,” McKesson told the New York Daily News.
McKesson sued Pirro in December 2017 for claiming on her show that he had “directed” protestors to be violent towards a Baton Rouge police officer who later sued McKesson, though that case also was dismissed.
Pirro argued that she had been expressing her personal opinion about whether the officer could sue McKesson, and that she thought he was liable for the officer’s injuries.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Robert Kalish sided with Pirro, writing that her “lack of temperament, and caustic commentary is what she is known, celebrated and frequently criticized for,” and that “however divisive one might find the subject two-minute sequence, the law of this state protects the expressions of opinion it represents.”
The judge did note that Pirro’s comments during the segment that aired in September 2017 had clear racial overtones.
“That the Court find’s Pirro statement’s to be protected statements of opinion does not mean this Court agrees with Pirro’s opinions or condones her behavior or rhetoric. This Court is not blind to the undertones in this segment," he wrote.
Fox News declined to comment to the Daily News.
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