CNN Sued For $1.3 Billion Over Cafferty Remarks

Jack Cafferty set off a firestorm in China after his remarks (seen here) that the the nation is full of "goons and thugs" and that their exports are "junk." The Chinese government demanded that CNN apologize, which they did (lukewarmly), but the apology was apparently not enough for some Chinese citizens.

Reuters reports that CNN is now being sued by two Chinese citizens for $1.3 billion, or one dollar per Chinese citzen:

A Chinese primary school teacher and a beautician have filed a suit against CNN in New York over remarks they say insulted the Chinese people and are seeking $1.3 billion in compensation -- $1 per person in China, a Hong Kong newspaper reported.

The case against the Atlanta-based cable channel, its parent company Turner Broadcasting and Jack Cafferty, the offending commentator, comes after 14 lawyers launched a similar suit in Beijing alleging that Cafferty's remarks earlier this month violated the dignity and reputation of the Chinese people....

In New York, Liang Shubing, the beautician, and Li Lilan, a Beijing-based elementary school instructor, claimed Cafferty's words insulted all Chinese people and "intentionally caused mental harm" to the plaintiffs, the Ta Kung Pao newspaper reported on Thursday.

Previously: China Demands Apology From CNN's Cafferty For "Goons And Thugs" Comment

Comments

[Marco104]

Cafferty is like too many self righteous media people today who don't just report the news but decide they know better than anyone else what is right and wrong. We're not smart enough people. We need the media to tell us how to live, work, raise our children, what to wear, where to go and what to believe. Guys like Cafferty are as guilty as the the so called thugs he refers to in the video. A real goon. Wake up America!

[Screengem]

Cafferty, in particular, and the media in general, have no power over anyone to abuse; thus, not goons. On the other hand, ask the poor soul who stood in front of the tank or the "hooligans" from Tiananmen Square who the goons are with power to enforce their will on others. Cafferty can shoot his mouth off and no one is hurt, except for one's feelings. Boo Hoo. Besides, it was Mao who asserted that power comes from the barrel of a gun --- not the gums!

[vernonbc]

Jack Cafferty is the only guy worth watching on CNN these days. He tells it like it is.

[EuroPreacher]

Totally agree with you[vernonbc];Jack tells it like it is and that's one of america's greatness:FREEDOM OF SPEECH;WE ARE THE USA AND NOT THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA!

[ducksawce]

Agreed

But we are also filled with "goons and thugs"

And we do export a lot of grabage

Show me a country that's not filled with goons and thugs

Jack's mistake is that he singled out the Chinese

[OntheContrary]

Yes, he tells like it is...witho­ut going through his stupid head! This Cafferty guy is a bigot.

[alwayslearning]

I knew that Jack's mouth would eventually get him into trouble. There are more powerful ways to say what he feels in appropriate language but he chooses to be 'cutesy'. CNN should have reined him in long time ago. He is a bright man who sees through the 'fog' of issues but he has not learned to express himself without sneering and demeaning people.

[verdantbeast]

Yes, CNN should have further limited Cafferty's right to free speech to appease a government that thrives on over-reacting to any criticism whatsoever. This is an attempt at intimidation that needs to be thoroughly resisted.

[zbig]

Oh good! If the suit succeeds, millions can sue O'Reily, Hannity, and Rush.

[jonmonbuckeye]

Thanks to BILL CLINTON and giving China MFN status. And you want him to have another 8 years?

[UWBizKid]

At least there is another group that see's that Jack Cafferty is a fool! He's needed to be fired for a long time and this time I hope it gets done. I'm fed up with his attacks on Hillary Clinton and if this is the way to get rid of the guy MORE POWER TO THE CHINESE! He's an idiot! The networks have been so blatantly biased in their purported "reporting" of the news that I'd be happy if they cleaned house and started fresh. Reporters don't GET opinions! They state facts and they've not done a very good job of that letting OBAMA get away with throwing down the race card at every opportunity and slandering the Clintons at every opportunity.

If Jack Cafferty gets fired it will be none too soon in my opinion!

[jonmonbuckeye]

If I hear one more Billary Bush fan complain about the media, I'm going to puke. Your candidate can't win the nomination. The only racist comments in this whole election process have come from Bill and that lesbian (yes, that's a lesbian is the biggest open secret in D.C.- just like Larry Craig) wife of his.

[jonesgen57]

Thank you for your treasonous rant. It is not surprising that a Clinton supporter would prefer Chinese communism to American liberty. Or make a statement to that effect without realizing the implications. Are you really so narrowly focussed on your personal sentiments that you can glibly ignore brutal human rights abuses in other parts of the world? Over a million Tibetans murdered by the Chinese communist regime but that is nothing compared to your irritation at Mr. Cafferty for choosing not to support Hillary. Do your values and priorities reflect those of the Clintons?

[richardgordon]

Whoa their buddy! Isn't this America? Isn't this the country where you can say stuff that people don't agree with or like? You're most important freedom is freedom of speech. Without it this blog wouldn't exist, and chances are everybody who has posted on this blog would have been imprisoned for seditious behavior.

[Rolandc]

" you're most important freedom" ...???!!
"YOU'RE MOST IMPORTANT FREEDOM ..... !!!!!??
the reason I am yelling is that by your name you must be 'merkun .... I presume and I am sad for ya ....

[dadw5boys]

CAN'T YOU SEE THESE FOOLS PISSIN OFF CHINA .

THEN THEY SELL OFF ALL THE U.S. DOLLARS THEY HAVE AND DRIVE THE U.S. INTO A DEEP ECONOMIC DEPRESSION!

[realpolitic]

I say $1.3 billion is a pittance. They must go for $1.3 trillion-q­uadzillion­.

[2351]

Oh boy, maybe Jeremiah Wright can sue Fox news for the same thing.

[realpolitic]

Can I sue Fox for polluting my television screen?

[Blurp]

Can I sue China for poisoning my cat with melamine-tainted food?

[OntheContrary]

You don't sue China. You sue the manufacturer. Oh, it is an American company who happened to have a plant in China.

[Blurp]

Uh... the ridiculousness of my question is the point. See, it was a comment on the Orientals trying to sue the U.S. governemen­t... Duuuuhhhh.­.. get it?

[jonesgen57]

Quote: "Nonetheless, in September 1997, the World Health Organization's Regional Committee for the Western Pacific issued a report claiming that "more than 50 million women were estimated to be 'missing' in China because of the institutionalized killing and neglect of girls due to Beijing's population control program that limits parents to one child." (See Joseph Farah, "Cover-up of China's gender-cide", Western Journalism Center/Fre­eRepublic, September 29, 1997.) Farah referred to the gendercide as "the biggest single holocaust in human history."

[dgscol]

Human rights generally are the problem - not just brutal attempts to control population. The population problem is serious there. There are people beaten on their jobs, caning, etc. Workers are not allowed to talk, walk around, etc. We are fed images of immaculate work places with smiling workers, but that is not the way it is. These factories are run like military operations. When people resist or demonstrate they are arrested, beaten , and sometimes murdered. The people are slaves.

Why are we doing business to strengthen a society that treats its people like this? We are hurting democracies, to invest heavily in dictatorial governments. This surely is the work of the evil one. We have a candidate for president that could have been a slave because of his race in a more primitive era. Which society ought we to support?

The Soviet Union, strengthened by our investiture, would have buried us. China, is not that strong yet. The world could become like China in time. Is that better than a world run by the US? We should be placing political pressure on China to change it and break it up, rather than empowering what is a traditionally imperial government.

We have seen several uprisings, and all have failed because of the brutality of the ensuing crackdowns. That is the way it is done there. Period. There has never been a people's movement to change China, except to get rid of western influence in China.

[dgscol]

I would like to add that the Chinese see this as an economic war - including espionage here in the US. They are collecting data here about our military, about our industry, about government operations, and work in national laboratories which started in Clinton I. They have invaded the academic environment here in the US, and to some extent can control the future of your children through granting graduate degrees. One guy was doing virus research, and wanted labs in several state universities. Besides the outlays in capital he expected, there was a danger that he could engineer a virus and spread it around here, at our own expense ! It was amazing because several universities were competing for him, saying things like "He is an intelligent guy, and we should come up with the money he needs.

Our government's response is to disarm us, hide deficiencies in their products, allow imbalanced trade, and downplay our security concerns. There is a hushed excuse : "They have threatened us". Is this our response to Chinese threats? Have these been actual threats, or is this just an excuse for entrepreneurship having run amok?

[dgscol]

What do our candidates have to say about China? They do not even mention it.

[peepeeray]

I miss the good old days when immigrants here from Communist nations didn't take offense when an American spoke out against the government commie thugs and goons. Hey, take heart, offended Chinese-Americans. If Cafferty were a Chinese commentator saying such things in China on television, he would have been summarily executed. That would have been cool, right? Just keep that pleasant thought in your heads and drop the dopey lawsuit. It's not like Red China isn't the controlling stockholder of USA, Inc anyway.

[Liamfoley]

Doesn't it just show how China (the leading example of State Capitalism in the world) has the U.S. by the balls. "Our" government has sold off the country piece by piece starting with Ray-gun, Bush, Clinton, W - and now we can't do a damn thing about it. Obama is the only one that gets it and the corporatists (Billary and McBush) are doing everything they can to destroy him with their dirty slimy campaigns. Unfortunately we know from past elections at least one-half of Americans are dumb as stumps!

[SMP]

Counter suit:

China tries to interupt CNN broadcasts in several places round the world...on­e place was right here in PA.

CNN suing China for 4.2 million dollars...­.1$ per person interrupted ... causing mental anguish right before the PA primary.


Give it a rest China.... we have given you our jobs...all­owed you to put our babies at risk, killed our pets, and accepted tainted meds. This is what NAFTA allowed ie..Clinto­n and Bush administrations ....

So sue.....we will send you our pennies..i­f we have any left.

[SMP]

oops..I meant 4.2 BILLION

[Dunnage]

Cafferty is a pompous idiot.

[MetalCanuck]

Cafferty is right, and the Chinese government is out of line. They can't sue anyone for speaking their mind...or can they in this post 9/11 fantasy land where we live. You know..the one that 2 towers can fall at the rate of gravity twice and still people think there are no bombs. Yeah we now live in fantasy land.

[robertsandimas]

What? He's the exact opposite of "pompous." He is down to earth, pithy, and correct about most things.

[ElPerro]

This is what we get for playing footsie with the Chinese, and crushing the American working by giving them Most Favored Nation status while inexplicably continuing the Cuban boycott. Can anyone tell me what Cuba has done to their own people and/or to their neighbors that the Chinese have not done?

The stench of double-standard and hypocrisy is unbearable.