Did Kyle Rittenhouse file a $60 million defamation lawsuit against Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg? No, that's not true: It is a satirical claim published by a network of websites that trolls conservatives with false articles. There is no such court filing by Rittenhouse, who was recently found not guilty of murder in Kenosha, Wisconsin, against the two TV talk show hosts. While the original publisher includes several notices that it is a work of satire, these articles are often stolen by other websites and republished without the warnings.
The claim originated in an article published by PotatriotsUnite.com on November 27, 2021 titled "Rittenhouses File $60M Defamation Suit Against Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldgerg" (archived here) which opened:
Kyle and his mom have pulled the trigger on a lawsuit against The View's Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg. According to the family's spokesman, Joe Barron, the Rittenhouses expect a quick and large settlement: "The Rittenhouse family has been through hell at the hands of these evil Democrats. They were ripped apart on their partisan, biased opinion show and they will have retribution."
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:
Rittenhouses File $60M Defamation Suit Against Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldgerg
This kid is gonna be so rich when he's through with them.
The site is part of the "America's Last Line of Defense" network of satire websites run by self-professed liberal troll Christopher Blair from Maine along with a loose confederation of friends and allies. He runs several websites and Facebook pages with visible satire disclaimers everywhere. They mostly publish made-up stories with headlines specifically created to trigger Republicans, conservatives and evangelical Christians into angrily sharing or commenting on the story on Facebook without actually reading the full article, exposing them to mockery and ridicule by fans of the sites and pages.
Every site in the network has an about page that reads (in part):
About Satire
Before you complain and decide satire is synonymous with "comedy":sat·ire
ˈsaˌtī(ə)r
noun
The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined. Any similarities between this site's pure fantasy and actual people, places, and events are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and satirical. See above if you're still having an issue with that satire thing.
Articles from Blair's sites frequently get copied by "real" fake news sites who omit the satire disclaimer and other hints the stories are fake. One of the most persistent networks of such sites is run by a man from Pakistan named Kashif Shahzad Khokhar (aka "DashiKashi") who has spammed hundreds of such stolen stories into conservative and right-wing Facebook pages in order to profit from the ad revenue.
When fact checkers point this out to the people liking and sharing these copycat stories some of them get mad at the fact checkers instead of directing their anger at the foreign spammers or the liberal satire writers. Others send a polite "thank you" note, which is much appreciated.
