Turning Point USA has issued a cease and desist letter to ABC News calling for the network to “retract the defamatory statements” made earlier this week about its recent Tampa, Florida, Student Action Summit on popular talk show The View or face legal action, per a letter to network leadership obtained by Fox News.
The nonprofit, founded by conservative activist Charlie Kirk, said in its letter that “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.”
The threatened legal action comes after a segment in which The View co-hosts denigrated Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republicans for failing to condemn neo-Nazi protesters who showed up outside the Student Action Summit’s venue. Joy Behar went so far as to compare the silence to Nazi Germany, saying, “DeSantis did not say anything about it. Nothing. So it’s sort of his rendition of a ‘good people on both sides.’ … There were Germans in Germany at that time who did not speak up because they were like, ‘Well maybe it’ll go away,’ and they were quiet. And then when it become full-blown Nazism and Jews and other people were being thrown in concentration camps, it was too late for them.”
“Whenever you see bigotry of this level, you can’t let it go,” guest host Ana Navarro added. “You can’t pretend that you didn’t see it. You have to condemn it regardless of party, regardless of politics.” And Whoopi Goldberg had a comment of her own: “We know these folks are out there and now they’re in the light. So you have a decision to make: where do you stand? Because if they come for one, they’re coming for all.”
Between these remarks, The View aired two on-air disclaimers to inform viewers that Turning Point USA condemned the neo-Nazi protesters, who had “nothing to do” with the organization itself. However, these efforts failed to placate Turning Point USA in-house counsel Veronica Peters, who wrote the cease and desist letter obtained by Fox News, alleging:
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.
Specifically, The View hosts insidiously and cavalierly stated that TPUSA “let [neo-Nazis] in to its SAS event, metaphorically embrace[d] them” and that neo-Nazis were “in the mix of people.” The assertion that TPUSA is complicit or affiliated in any way with the neo-Nazi protesters outside the event is outlandish, false, defamatory and disgraceful. Even after Ms. Haines reluctantly read the TPUSA statement that it condemns the group of neo-Nazis and that the group had nothing to do with TPUSA, its event or its student attendees, Ms. Goldberg continues the false tirade against TPUSA, asserting that somehow the organization and its attendees were ‘complicit’ and/or associated with the outside protest.
To be abundantly clear, TPUSA aggressively and completely condemns the ideologies of neo-Nazism and has zero connection to the protesters outside the event. Since these individuals were located on public property, TPUSA security attempted to, but was not permitted to remove them.”
ABC News did not immediately respond to Fox’s request for comment.
