James Woods has filed a $10 million lawsuit against a semi-anonymous Twitter user who tweeted that the actor was acocaine addict. Many people are holding up this case as the perfect example of the Streisand Effect, where more attention is drawn to the accusations by suing rather than ignoring the trolls.
But what if Woods were held to the same standard to which he’s holding this random Twitter user who had a relatively minuscule number of followers? Inspired by Radley Balko’s tweet below, we took a quick peek through James Woods’ Twitter account, which had a rather amazing number of references to Benghazi.
James Woods once suggested to his 200K followers that I enjoy eating penises. https://t.co/0J1Fw3rDKC Where do I file my lawsuit?
— Radley Balko (@radleybalko) July 31, 2015
Woods calls people liars, accuses them of being responsible for murder, and has some rather strange things to say about the sexual fantasies of magazine publishers.
That time he called this actress a disgusting liar:
@kristencheeks You are damned liar. I have never refused a picture with anyone in my life. You are a disgusting, reprehensible liar.
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) October 17, 2013
That time Woods implied that Jann Wenner, the publisher of Rolling Stone, had erotic fantasies about the Boston Marathon bomber:
Does that puke Jann Wenner harbor erotic fantasies for that other puke, the Boston Bomber? Fuck them both…
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) July 18, 2013
He took it a step further and made some more explicit accusations about Wenner, claiming that he might be pleasuring himself to the bomber’s image:
@Brooke_McMaster Jann Wenner whacking off to this puke terrorist is like Gore Vidal drooling over McVeigh.
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) July 18, 2013
That time he called Al Sharpton a murderer:
@RealJamesWoods This disgusting pig is DIRECTLY responsible for the murder of two good policemen. No discussion: pic.twitter.com/CVB6rkfwF4
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) December 21, 2014
That time he called Hillary Clinton and Jane Fonda treacherous and cowardly:
@RLMcMahon Hillary Clinton's evasive treachery and cowardice re Benghazi is as repugnant to me as Jane Fonda was forty years ago.
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) September 9, 2013
Now, to be clear, we don’t think James Woods should be sued over any of these tweets. But if the standard for defamation is someone simply saying something stupid and over the top online, James Woods should expect at least half a dozen lawsuits in the coming days.
Chill out and don’t feed the trolls, Mr. Woods. Also, Benghazi.
Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision for Fiji Water/AP Images
