ABC’s “The View” has issued an apology to Turning Point USA (TPUSA) after the conservative group called them out for comments.
TPUSA issued a cease and desist letter to ABC News on Tuesday calling for the company to “retract the defamatory statements” or face legal actions, according to a report by Fox News on Wednesday.
Fox News reported after reviewing the letter that it was addressed to ABC News New York bureau chief Joshua Hoyos and ABC assistant chief counsel Ian Rosenberg.
The letter accuses the daytime television show of defamation during their comments about TPUSA’s recent Student Action Summit. The letter reads:
“The false statements of fact intentionally made during The View’s July 25th segment were unquestionably harmful to TPUSA’s reputation and brought the organization and its student affiliates into disrepute with the public, potential donors, and current and future business partners, posing a significant financial loss to the organization.”
Turning Point USA tweeted on Tuesday, “Yesterday, [“The View” and] Whoopi Goldberg smeared and lied about TPUSA regarding an incident where supposed ‘nazis’ showed up outside of the Student Action Summit.”
The hosts of “The View” asserted that the summit that took place last weekend in Tampa, Florida, took “a page from the WWE,” and claimed that they were officially tied to the Republican Party.
https://twitter.com/TPUSA/status/1552052464836157442?s=20&t=BisfiRClJzh4Oh0Dmga4qA
They also criticized the group because of alleged neo-Nazi presences outside the venue, which the hosts said should have been handled by the group.
“Neo-Nazis were out there in the front of the conference with antisemitic slurs and, you know, the Nazi swastika and a picture of a so-called Jewish person with exaggerated features, just like Goebbels did during the Third Reich. It’s the same thing, right out of that same playbook,” Behar said, according to Fox News.
After a group of Antifa and left wing protesters showed up, predictably, to protest our event, they eventually dispersed, then minutes later these “nazis” appeared. Who are these people? We have no idea, and apparently ABC and other news media aren't curious enough to find out. pic.twitter.com/nPngp64M0F
— Turning Point USA (@TPUSA) July 26, 2022
TPUSA’s in-house counsel Veronica Peterson said in the cease and desist letter, “‘The View’ hosts intentionally and falsely associated TPUSA with neo-Nazi protestors outside the event placing TPUSA in denigrating and false light and negatively impacting its public perception. Such action will not be tolerated.”
After giving ABC News until July 27 to issue a retraction and apology, the letter said, “Should ABC decide not to comply with the demands above, TPUSA is prepared to promptly take all steps necessary to protect its rights, including pursuing all available legal remedies, seeking monetary and non-monetary damages, injunctive relief, and attorneys’ fees and costs.”
“The View” issued an apology on Wednesday. Co-host Sara Haines clarified the earlier comments, saying, “On Monday we talked about the fact that there were openly neo-Nazi’s demonstrators outside the Florida Student Action Summit of the Turning Point USA group.
“We want to make clear that these demonstrators were gathered outside the event and that they were not invited or endorsed by Turning Point USA,” Haines said.