Joe.My.God. LGBT News
Back in November, character actor James Woods loudly quit Twitter in a huff, bizarrely claiming that his First Amendment rights were somehow being quashed by the site’s crackdown on hate speech. That steely resolve lasted a full month before Woods slunk back to Twitter, declaring that “silence just isn’t in my nature.” Meanwhile Woods is continuing his crusade to learn the name of somebody who was trolling him on Twitter, even though the man has since died. From the Hollywood Reporter:
James Woods is continuing to pursue a $10 million defamation lawsuit against an anonymous individual who tweeted Woods was a “cocaine addict.” Not even the reported death of the defendant is stopping the actor. On Tuesday, over objections that Woods was looking to harass a dead man’s family, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled that the attorney for the defendant must identify his deceased client.
Woods brought the lawsuit in July 2015 against “John Doe,” an individual tweeting as “Abe List.” According to the complaint, Woods wanted to send a message to those using social media to “propagate lies and do harm.” In February 2016, Woods experienced a significant victory when a judge rejected an anti-SLAPP motion arguing that the “cocaine addict” tweet was “a constitutionally protected political insult,” the type made routinely by Woods as “a well-known part of Twitter’s culture of political hyperbole.”
The anonymous defendant filed an appeal, but that was cut short thanks to the reported death of “Abe List,” whose social media profile identified him falsely as a Harvard-educated partner at an Los Angeles-based private equity firm. Woods cheered the development. “The slime who libeled me just dropped his appeal contesting my victorious SLAPP motion,” Woods tweeted. Upon a reply noting that the guy had died, with other commentators expressing outrage, Woods responded, “Learn this. Libel me, I’ll sue you. If you die, I’ll follow you to the bowels of Hell. Get it?”
The attorney for the dead man says that despite the latest ruling, the man’s name will not be immediately revealed. He added, “We’re trying to protect his identity. We’re concerned about his family being harassed and [there’s good reason] based on how much they are gloating over his death.”
I am so humbled and proud, passing the half million mark of followers with whom I enjoy tweeting every day. Thank you, thank you, thank you. pic.twitter.com/P8rYGLGe5y
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) January 3, 2017