Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary and Fox News have been sued for defamation after the businessman repeatedly said on air that opponents of his Utah data center project were instruments of the Chinese Communist Party.
O’Leary, a multimillionaire investor and television personality, accused the founders of two Utah nonprofits who opposed his 40,000-acre data center project of being agents of the Chinese government during at least 10 appearances on Fox News.
The nonprofits, Alliance for a Better Utah and Elevate Strategies, along with their respective leaders, Joshua Kanter and Gabrielle Finlayson, sued both O’Leary and Fox News for defamation over the ludicrous claims, according to Politico.
The complaint, which was filed on Wednesday, alleges that O’Leary said on air that the nonprofits and their leaders were “proxies of the Chinese government.”
O’Leary, 72, insisted during multiple appearances on the network that he had hired a team of data scientists that discovered “two cells inside of Utah” who were working under the instruction of the Chinese Communist Party, identifying those “cells” as Alliance for a Better Utah and Elevate Strategies and calling out their founders explicitly.
The suit alleged that Fox News continued to host O’Leary and air his false accusations even after Kanter and Finlayson had publicly denied them.
O’Leary, who is not a U.S. citizen, issued a statement on social media on June 25 retracting his claims, admitting he had “no evidence” that Kanter, Finlayson, and Taylor Knuth, executive director of the Alliance for a Better Utah, “are funded by China or the Chinese Communist Party.”
Fox News also walked back O’Leary’s accusations, delivering an on-air apology at the conclusion of its Big Weekend Show on June 27.
“Kevin O’Leary appeared as a guest on the show on May 24 and discussed the ongoing controversy surrounding his planned data center project in Utah,” host Johnny Joey Jones said. “He made certain claims relating to the opponents of his project. Mr. O’Leary has now corrected the record and explained he has ‘no evidence’ that the Alliance for a Better Utah, Josh Kanter, or Taylor Knuth are funded by China or the Chinese communist party.”
Maria Bartiromo, on whose show O’Leary made the baseless claim, issued an apology last month for her guest’s remarks.
“Mr. O’Leary has now corrected the record and explained that he has no evidence that the Alliance for a Better Utah, Elevate Strategies, Josh Kanter, Taylor Knuth, or Gabriel Finlayson are funded by China or the Chinese Communist Party,” Bartiromo said on her June 26 show.
“Fox News Media is likewise aware of no evidence that they are funded by, acting at the direction of, or coordinating with Chinese interests in opposing Kevin O’Leary’s project. Fox News Media apologizes for the error.”
However, despite the network’s apology and O’Leary’s backtracking, Kanter and Finlayson argued that the reputational damage had already been done, and also cited the fact that O’Leary’s segments remain publicly available on Fox’s digital platforms.
A rep for O’Leary did not immediately return the Daily Beast’s request for comment.
Reached for comment, Fox News Media told the Daily Beast in a statement: “FOX News Media publicly corrected the record on every program where on-air guest Kevin O’Leary’s comments were made, all of which was extensively publicized. We will vigorously defend against this lawsuit.”
Fox News settled a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems in 2023 for a jaw-dropping $787.5 million.
O’Leary’s proposed data center, which is nearly the size of Washington, D.C., has faced immense pushback from local Utah residents over its environmental impact, power consumption, and water use.
The complaint stated that the businessman’s Stratos Project “encountered what virtually all data center developers across the country have had to contend with over the last few years: intense scrutiny from local residents, community organizations, and elected officials on both sides of the aisle.”
“Rather than answering the community’s questions and addressing their concerns about his project, O’Leary went on the attack and singled out Plaintiffs in particular, even though Plaintiffs had barely engaged with the data center project,” the complaint said.
