Back in the summer of 2015, actor James Woods sued a semi-anonymous Twitter user for $10 million after the user called him a “cocaine addict.” The lawyers representing the Twitter user appealed to have the lawsuit thrown out, but the appeal was recently dropped because the defendant died. The response from Woods? He hopes the guy died screaming his name.
“The slime who libeled me just dropped his appeal contesting my victorious SLAPP motion. Perennial loser @LisaBloom isn’t yapping so much now,” Woods tweeted about the defendant’s lawyer, without explaining that the appeal was dropped because the Twitter user had died.
After the defendant’s lawyer and various Twitter users pointed out that the reason the appeal was dropped was because the man had died, Woods responded in a tweet that has now been deleted.
But the Hollywood Reporter got a screenshot:
“Screaming my name, I hope,” Woods tweeted in response to another Twitter user who said, “he’s dead you fucking geriatric retard.”
“Learn this. Libel me, I’ll sue you,” the Woods tweet continued. “If you die, I’ll follow you to the bowels of Hell. Get it?”
Kenneth White, another attorney for the semi-anonymous Twitter user, told the Hollywood Reporter that his client died of natural causes and that they were trying to keep his identity private.
“We’re concerned about his family being harassed and [there’s good reason] based on how much they are gloating over his death,” White said.
James Woods, who is perhaps best known for winning the “Role Model Award” at the 2000 Young Hollywood Awards, is slated to voice Lex Luthor in the upcoming animated TV series Justice League Action. The bowels of hell did not respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment by press time.