Harvard Prof Sues NYTimes For 'Clickbait Defamation'

A prominent Harvard Law School professor sued The New York Times on Monday, claiming it engaged in “clickbait defamation” by falsely suggesting he once approved of accepting donations from the late accused sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Reuters reports Lawrence Lessig claimed the Times published an article headlined “A Harvard Professor Doubles Down: If You Take Epstein’s Money, Do It In Secret” last Sept. 14 with reckless disregard for its truth.

He also said it refused to change the headline and first paragraph after he told the paper they falsely suggested he defended soliciting donations from Epstein.

A Times spokeswoman said: “Senior editors reviewed the story after Professor Lessig complained and were satisfied that the story accurately reflected his statements. We plan to defend against the claim vigorously.”

The Times article was published six days after Lessig wrote an essay on Medium supporting his friend Joichi Ito, who resigned as director of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after accepting donations from Epstein.

Lessig had written it was a mistake to solicit the donations, but also wrong for Ito to be “scapegoated.”