The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed legal briefs Tuesday defending HBO host John Oliver in his lawsuit against coal CEO Bob Murray over allegations that the comedian defamed the energy tycoon.
The ACLU’s West Virginia chapter argued in the amicus brief that Oliver was within his constitutional rights to air the segment that referred to Murray as a “geriatric Dr. Evil.” The group’s brief contains sections ripping the coal magnate, including titles such as “Anyone Can Legally Eat Shit, Bob,” among other pointed barbs.
Murray’s lawsuit attempts to roll back “protected speech and silence the marketplace of ideas,” ACLU attorney Jamie Lynn Croft wrote in the brief. The legal document also includes a photo comparison between Murray and the fictitious Dr. Evil, a villain in the Austin Powers’ movies.
Murray, who is a devout supporter of President Donald Trump, wants the case remanded to state court, where a judge can decide to force Oliver not to air the segment. The coal CEO has gone after media outlets in the past for similar actions.
His company, Murray Energy, filed a lawsuit against The New York Time’s editorial board in April, for instance, arguing that the paper falsely claimed Murray lied when he insisted the collapse of his Crandall Canyon mine in 2007 was because of an earthquake, not poor safety measures.
Data shows that an earthquake triggered the collapse, which killed three additional people attempting to rescue the miners, the company wrote in a May 3 statement announcing the lawsuit. It also noted that federal prosecutors were unable to directly connect safety violations to the mine’s collapse.
Murray Energy’s lawsuit stems from a graph within an April New York Times editorial claiming that Murray “earned infamy when he falsely insisted that the 2007 collapse of his Crandall Canyon mine, which killed six miners, was due to an earthquake, not dodgy mining practices.”
The op-ed also implies Murray’s company has a checkered safety record, calling the company “a serial violator of federal health and safety rules,” according to the complaint filed in West Virginia.
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