Last month, actor and sometimes political pundit James Woods filed a $10 million defamation lawsuit against Twitter user “Abe List†for tweeting that Woods used cocaine. Woods says he wants to send a message to “anyone else using social media to propagate lies.†Woods’s attorneys then followed up with a subpoena to Twitter demanding that it reveal the secret identity of “Abe List†as well as another Twitter user with the handle “T.G. Emerson,†who went a step further, calling Woods a “notorious coke fiend and registered sex offender.†Now Twitter’s attorney, Ryan Mrazik, has written a letter in which he explains to Woods what hyperbole is:
“The speech at issue appears to be opinion and hyperbole rather than a statement of fact. Further, the target of the speech is a public figure who purposefully injects himself into public controversies, and there has been no showing of actual malice. Attempts to unmask anonymous online speakers in the absence of a prima facie defamation claim are improper and would chill the First Amendment rights of speakers who use Twitter’s platform to express their thoughts and ideas instantly and publicly, without barriers.â€
Woods, who once told a Twitter user “put down your crack pipe†when asked about his anti-Obama tweets, called Al Sharpton a “race pimp,†and has described Muslims as “towel-heads,†does not believe the cocaine tweets are protected under the First Amendment. The defendant is filing an anti-SLAPP motion on Monday.