Why HBO Host John Oliver Can’t Be Muzzled by a Coal Boss
Energy company CEO wants a court to gag Oliver and his fans — but what about that pesky First Amendment?
Susan Seager | July 13, 2017 @ 10:06 AM
Last Updated: July 13, 2017 @ 10:44 AM
Ever hear of the “John Oliver Effect”?
That’s when Oliver invites his fans to “attack, harass, and injure the show’s subjects,” according to a coal boss who has been on the receiving end of verbal attacks by Oliver’s viewers.
Murray Energy CEO Robert E. Murray is asking a court to muzzle the host of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” in the hopes that Oliver’s fans will stop targeting him with angry messages.
Murray’s lawyers claim Oliver launched a defamatory “character assassination” of Murray in Oliver’s June 18 report, prompting fans to flood Murray’s mail, telephone and social media with messages calling the businessman a “f—ing scumbag,” “rich greedy asshole,” and “responsible for coal miner’s [sic] deaths!”
Murray filed a libel lawsuit against Oliver and HBO on June 19 in West Virginia over Oliver’s scathing critique of the coal magnate’s safety record and fatal coal mine collapse.
Less than a week after filing the lawsuit, Murray is back in court asking the court to immediately order Oliver to stop making any future verbal “attacks” against Murray, stop talking about Murray’s libel lawsuit, never air the June 18 segment again, and immediately take the segment down from the internet.
But Murray’s June 28 motion to silence Oliver will probably fail, experts told TheWrap. That’s because the First Amendment prohibits courts from blocking future speech about matters of public concern in most cases.
“I think there is virtually no chance the Court would grant the injunction requested by Bob Murray and his coal companies, and if it does, it will be unsupported by the law,” Ricardo Cestero, a media lawyer at the Los Angeles firm of Greenberg Glusker, told TheWrap. “It’s basically censorship, and the First Amendment prohibits those types of orders,” Cestero said.
Murray’s lawyers disagree, saying that Oliver cannot not “resist an injunction [by] using words such as ‘First Amendment’ and ‘free speech.'”
Murray’s legal team argues in court papers that “these rights do not give anyone the right to say anything, anywhere, to anyone,” especially not defamatory speech.
But David Greene, civil liberties director and senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco, was skeptical that Murray could win a gag order silencing Oliver and HBO.
To win, Murray must show that the order “is truly necessary to prevent extremely serious harm, like a serious threat to national security,” Greene told TheWrap.
“The coal plaintiffs in this case will have an extremely difficult time passing this test,” Greene said. “The harm they are seeking to prevent with this order — what they consider to be harassing communications form John Oliver‘s viewers — is not close to the type of harm that would justify a prior restraint.”
Murray also may have a problem stopping the John Oliver Effect.
Because Murray and his coal companies did not sue Oliver’s fans, a “court absolutely does not have the ability to gag Oliver’s viewers who aren’t parties before it,” attorney Greene said.
Even if Murray sues the fans, he probably could not block their onslaught of calls and emails.
“The First Amendment broadly protects the right to criticize, mock, ridicule and speak out about public figures,” attorney Cestero said.
Murray argues that a gag order for Oliver is necessary because his IT team is worried that Oliver’s fans may attempt to hack the company’s “computer networks” monitoring safety conditions in the mines. He also says that his fragile health has been worsened by “the phenomenon that Time and Fortune magazines have dubbed the ‘John Oliver Effect.'”
HBO said in a written statement, “Murray Energy’s request is a dangerous and unprecedented violation of the First Amendment rights of HBO, John Oliver and the show, and we look forward to presenting our case in court.”
15 Stars Who Imagined Violence Against Donald Trump, From Kathy Griffin to Pearl Jam (Photos)
Since the election, several celebrities have voiced their displeasure -- even anger -- with the Trump administration. Some have gone so far as to suggest violent measures. From Robert De Niro to Snoop Dogg, here are some left-leaning noteworthy people who have fanned themes of violence toward Trump and the GOP.
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Mickey Rourke
In a TMZ video from 2015, this boxer-turned-actor directed his rage toward Trump, calling him a "big-mouthed bitch bully," saying he would "love 30 seconds in a room with the little bitch." Rourke has also expressed a desire to "give [Trump] a Louisville slugger."
In late February 2016, the host of Comedy Central's now-canceled "The Nightly Show" joked about then-candidate Donald Trump: “I don’t want to give him any more oxygen. That’s not a euphemism, by the way. I mean it literally. Somebody get me the pillow they used to kill [Supreme Court Justice Antonin] Scalia and I’ll do it — I’ll do it!"
George Lopez
During the Republican primaries in March 2016, the Mexican American comedian tweeted a cartoon image of former Mexican president Vincente Fox holding the decapitated head of Donald Trump aloft, with the caption "Make America Great Again."
Marilyn Manson
Shock-rocker Marilyn Manson had to take his turn in the Trump-bashing festivities. In a teaser video for his song, "Say10," released just after the 2016 election, a Trump-like figure wearing a suit and a red tie lies decapitated on a concrete floor, in a pool of his own blood.
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Rosie O'Donnell
In July 2017, O'Donnell tweeted out a link to a game called "Push Trump Off A Cliff Again." This made many conservatives want to push her off a cliff, not POTUS.
Madonna told a crowd of thousands at the Women's March on Washington in January 2017 that she had “thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House." The singer's profanity-riddled jab at the Republican administration provoked the anger of many conservatives.
The actor is not afraid to express his disdain for the commander in chief. De Niro confirmed to ABC's "The View" in February 2017 that he would like to punch Trump in the face. He clarified earlier comments, saying "It wasn’t like I was gonna go find him and [really] punch him in the face, but he’s gotta hear it."
Snoop Dogg's music video for "Lavender," released in March 2017, (literally) paints POTUS as a clown and orchestrates his death. At the video's end, the "Gin and Juice" rapper points a gun at the harlequin Trump figure and shoots. But instead of a bullet, a red flag that reads "Bang!" fires out of the gun.
The comedian landed in hot water in May 2017 after photos surfaced of her holding a fake bloody, decapitated Trump head. Griffin was promptly dropped from her annual New Year's Eve gig by CNN. Toilet stool company Squatty Potty also pulled its ads featuring Griffin. Trump himself called the photos "sick" and tweeted that his youngest son, Barron, was "having a hard time" with the images. Griffin later apologized.
The nonprofit theater staged a modern adaptation of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" in May-June 2017 that made conservative viewers want to revolt. In the production, a Trumplike figure playing the title role is stabbed to death by a band of angry Senators. The Public Theater subsequently lost sponsorships from Delta Airlines and Bank of America.
The musician's new video, released in June 2017, is simultaneously nostalgic and dystopian. In 1980s cartoon fashion, a giant Transformer-like Trump morphs into a swastika/dollar sign and wreaks havoc on a city before meeting a fiery, explosive demise.
During an appearance at the U.K.'s 2017 Glastonbury music and arts festival, the actor tore into the president -- "I think Trump needs help" -- and then made an ill-considered joke: “When was the last time an actor assassinated a president?” Depp claimed his joke was misconstrued and eventually issued an apology.
Asked what he'd serve at a peace summit between President Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, the celebrity chef told a TMZ video crew in 2017: "Hemlock."
CNN
Big Sean
In February 2017 rapper Big Sean rapped a verse about killing the President on his "I Decided" album. The lyrics are, “And I might just kill ISIS with the same icepick/That I murder Donald Trump in the same night with."
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Pearl Jam
At a show in Montana in August 2018 that served as a fundraiser for Sen. Jon Tester, the Seattle-based rockers released a cartoon poster commemorating the show that featured a bald eagle picking at the rotting corpse of President Trump on the White House lawn.
Some celebrities have been more than outspoken in their criticism of the Republican president
Since the election, several celebrities have voiced their displeasure -- even anger -- with the Trump administration. Some have gone so far as to suggest violent measures. From Robert De Niro to Snoop Dogg, here are some left-leaning noteworthy people who have fanned themes of violence toward Trump and the GOP.