'We cannot stand idly by': Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon announces legal action against NYT for 'defamatory' article

Despite the fact that everyone with minimal functional brain cells is aware that the Babylon Bee is a satirical website, there are still media out there who work very, very hard to portray it as a malicious source of far-Right misinformation.

Earlier this year, Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon called out the New York Times for pushing that bogus narrative. And today, Dillon reveals that Babylon Bee counsel has sent a letter to the New York Times demanding they retract their “defamatory” article:

Yesterday our counsel sent a letter to @nytimes demanding a retraction. We took this action because their article was—and remains—defamatory.

— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) June 3, 2021

I commented on the original version of the article in this thread. https://t.co/lv0eYo6NzK

— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) June 3, 2021

Here’s that thread again:

In an article about Facebook's difficulty in dealing with satire, the New York Times points to The Babylon Bee as an example of a "far-right misinformation site" that "sometimes trafficked in misinformation under the guise of satire."https://t.co/YzEuTwlBQT

— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) March 21, 2021

Here's the section of the article where they quote Emerson T. Brooking making this claim. Booking is described as "a resident fellow for the Atlantic Council who studies digital platforms." pic.twitter.com/GsDOayh7uJ

— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) March 21, 2021

Notably, the words "trafficked in misinformation" are hyperlinked, presumably a supportive source. But the link they point to is another NY Times piece that actually refutes—rather than supports—the claim being made here by accurately describing us as a legitimate satire site.

— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) March 21, 2021

I'm pretty sure there's a legal term for what's happening here.

— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) March 21, 2021

Incredibly, the NY Times is publishing deceptive disinformation for the purpose of leading people to falsely believe that we are a source of it. Their dealings with us—and Project Veritas, for example—reveal the truth.https://t.co/75rcXVxfuj

— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) March 21, 2021

Here is the link they attached to the words "trafficked in misinformation." https://t.co/LoDSomczhB

— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) March 21, 2021

Dillon posted the New York Times’ lame excuse for an editor’s note on their original post:

The update was no better than the original. We have not, in fact, feuded with Snopes as to whether we publish satire or misinformation. Snopes retracted that insinuation with an editors' note saying it was never their intent to call our motives into question. pic.twitter.com/3s5lw9HyCw

— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) June 3, 2021

The fact-checking industry doesn’t need to address humor and satire. There, New York Times. Solved your problem.

Now, how do we solve the problem of an ostensibly fact-focused media outlet that lies about an openly satirical one?

It's therefore misleading and malicious to characterize that incident as a feud, as if Snopes ever openly stood by the claim that we are misinformation and not satire.

— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) June 3, 2021

These mischaracterizations from the Times are nothing new. Previously, Times reporter Kevin Roose wrote a defamatory piece that claimed we "capitalize on confusion" and that we have a "habit of skirting the line between misinformation and satire," whatever that means.

— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) June 3, 2021

But they know better. In fact, Roose himself contradicted the title of his own piece by acknowledging in his conclusion that, "The Babylon Bee is not a covert disinformation operation disguised as a right-wing satire site, and is in fact trying to do comedy."

— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) June 3, 2021

For better or worse, the NY Times is considered a "reliable source." We cannot stand idly by as they act with malice to misrepresent us in ways that jeopardize our business.

— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) June 3, 2021

And the Babylon Bee shouldn’t stand idly by. It’s long past time that the New York Times have to answer for their gross journalistic malpractice, and if the Babylon Bee is the straw that breaks the camel’s back, more power to them.