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The Daily Beast was slammed Wednesday for revealing the identity of a man whose biggest crime was enjoying spring break in Miami.
As local officials and mainstream media members alike sounded the alarm over the number of partiers who flocked to the city amid the coronavirus pandemic, one individual dressed up as a shirtless version of the comic book villain The Joker went viral on social media.
The Daily Beast felt journalistically compelled to seek out the man's identity. The liberal outlet succeeded with its "exposé," revealing "Spring Break Joker" was a man in his mid-30s from the Midwest who is having, in the Beast's words, "marriage problems."
Fox News is not sharing the identity of the individual.
NEW YORK JUDGE DENIES DAILY BEAST MOTION TO DISMISS FORMER GAWKER EDITOR'S DEFAMATION LAWSUIT
Critics panned the Beast for publishing the identity of a private individual who was not engaged in any illegal activity.
"This is despicable," conservative writer A.G. Hamilton reacted. "They saw a regular guy in a video that said something they didn't like so they decided to track him down and expose personal details about his life just to fit in some fact-free shots at FL and Ron DeSantis."
"We had a mass freakout from people in the press for weeks over 'harassment' against certain journalists due to them being called out by others. Where are the same people on a news outlet doxing and smearing some random guy and exposing him to inevitable harassment?" Hamilton asked.
"That's some serious Woodward and Bernstein stuff there. Top notch," Washington Examiner managing editor Jay Caruso quipped.
"I wonder why folks call these publications enemy of the people," wrote "Ruthless" podcast co-host Comfortably Smug.
"He should've said the magic words 'I'm doing this for justice for George Floyd' and they would've left him alone, or maybe hired him," radio host Derek Hunter tweeted.
"You sure showed that random guy, Daily Beast. Good journalism," PJ Media columnist Jim Treacher said.
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The Daily Beast is not having a great week. On Wednesday, a New York judge denied the liberal outlet's motion to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed by former Gawker editor Carson Griffith over claims that were made in a 2019 report.
"This Court finds that Plaintiff has sufficiently pled a cause of action for defamation," Justice Phillip Hom wrote in Wednesday's ruling. "In accordance with the foregoing, the motion is denied in all respects. Defendants shall serve and file their answer within 30 days from today."
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