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Both Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are threatening to sue over billboard ads in Times Square that were put up just before the upcoming Nov 3 election.
The ads, posted by anti-Trump group The Lincoln Project, plastered Jared and Ivanka's photos next to text about their response to the pandemic. Ivanka's photo is from when she held the can of Goya beans to support that company during a boycott, but the can has been replaced with statistics about Covid deaths. Jared's photo is placed next to body bags and a quote from Vanity Fair attributed to him that said New Yorkers "are going to suffer [during the pandemic] and that’s their problem."
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The billboards made a splash on Thursday when they went up, but now they've gone viral since the couple's lawyer threatened to sue The Lincoln Project for the "false, malicious and defamatory" ads, according to a letter The Lincoln Project posted on its social media.
"Of course, Mr. Kushner never made any such statement, Ms. Trump, never made any such gesture, and the Lincoln Project's representations that they did are an outrageous and shameful libel," their attorney Marc Kasowitz wrote. "If these billboard ads are not immediately removed, we will sue you for what will doubtless be enormous compensatory and punitive damages."
The Lincoln Project and its lawyers have come back with a response that they made public. In the letter, the group tells the couple and its attorneys to "peddle your scare tactics elsewhere" and that the group won't be intimidated "by such empty bluster." Because Ivanka and Jared are public officials, they cannot sue for libel without proving that the statements made were false.
Twitter users, including Mia Farrow and Patton Oswalt, have posted their own photos and retweeted images of the billboards to spread them farther across the internet since the couple threatened to sue if they're not removed.
Is it? https://t.co/0Ys2Zd0SQ5
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) October 25, 2020
According to The New York Times, the ads will be up through November 5.
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