By Allie Martin and Jody Brown
Fox News has threatened to sue a former homosexual, now a Christian who engaged talk-show host Bill O'Reilly in a heated exchange on The O'Reilly Factor in September.
Stephen Bennett, a Christian recording artist who says it is possible for homosexuals to leave that lifestyle — through a relationship with Jesus Christ — is distributing an audio tape called “The O'Reilly Shocker.” On the tape, Bennett responds to Bill O'Reilly's characterization of people who take the Bible literally as “religious fanatics.” The hour-long tape includes about three minutes from the September interchange between Bennett and O'Reilly.
In a letter Bennett received yesterday from the New York City law firm representing the Fox network, Fox News has threatened a lawsuit if he does not stop distributing the tape and does not turn over all remaining copies.
But Mike DePrimo, senior litigation counsel for the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy, which represents Bennett, says Bennett has a right to distribute a recording of the program — and that his use of the tape is legal under copyright law's allowance of fair use and comment.
“The law provides that even copyrighted material may be used, provided it's used not for commercial gain but for comment,” DePrimo says. “Stephen Bennett used the material from the O'Reilly show simply to rebut the arguments O'Reilly put forward.”
The attorney implies there may be another reason the popular O'Reilly wants distribution of the tape stopped — and it has to do with image. “O'Reilly promotes himself as a conservative,” DePrimo explains. “In fact, Bennett's tape shows that O'Reilly is simply another media elite who's advancing the homosexual agenda — and he doesn't want to be exposed for what he is.”
In an earlier interview with WorldNetDaily, DePrimo vowed to “vigorously defend” Bennett if Fox proceeds with its threatened lawsuit.
Just prior to Bennett's interview in September, O'Reilly told The Advocate — a pro-homosexual publication — that he favored homosexual rights.
(This article courtesy of Agape Press.)
