‘Patriot Reporter’ Latest Conspiracy Theorist To Discover It’s Not Libel If It’s The Truth
It’s hardly surprising that someone who makes a living trafficking in things other than facts would have trouble recognizing facts when they’re applied to him. That’s the case here with Philip Godlewski — a self-proclaimed “patriot reporter” and QAnon conspiracy theorist. (h/t Volokh Conspiracy)
According to claims made in court, Godlewski is “one of the highest Anons” (drug reference inferred even if not meant to be implied) and supposedly earns $5 million a month with his QAnon-related “broadcasts” on social media.
Godlewski is litigiously upset Chris Kelly of the Scranton Times accurately portrayed him as (1) a sex offender, (2) a person specializing in leading people down “rabbit holes,” and (3) a supporter of the January 6 insurrection attempt.
The “highest Anon”/”patriot broadcaster” made several claims in lawsuit, none of them either believable or actionable. He takes issue with the sex offender label, insists the part about the “rabbit holes” somehow damaged his sideline as a real estate agent, and insists he did not participate in the January 6 insurrection.
The court isn’t impressed at all with this lawsuit, something made immediately clear by its assessment of Godlewski in the ruling’s [PDF] opening paragraphs, which notes it’s a bit rich for someone crying libel about sex offender statements to be doing the sort of thing he does on a daily basis (to the tune of $5M/month [allegedly]):
The ironic gist of the opinion column at issue was that the QAnon broadcaster, who affirmatively states in his published videos on social media that certain high-ranking elected and public officials are satanic, cannibalistic pedophiles sexually abusing children and drinking their blood to ingest the life-extending chemical adrenochrome, previously pled guilty in this county to corruption of a minor resulting from a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl while he was a 27-year-old baseball coach at her school….
And that’s how cases like these go. People who feel free to libel individuals, along with entire groups of people, are the first to start screaming “defamation” the moment those tactics are applied to them or the people they support.
But it won’t work here. For one thing, Godlewski’s assertion that the Scranton Times’ claim he had a “sexual relationship with a 15-year-old” is false is something immediately undercut not only by public records, but by his own guilty plea to a misdemeanor charge. (The latter of which was noted in the article, which pointed out he never “had sex” with the girl and had “pled to a misdemeanor.”)
Here’s the court again:
As noted above, the only text messages quoted in the Affidavit of Probable Cause in Godlewski I are those in which Godlewski acknowledged and described oral sex with Ms. DuBorgel, the presence of her hair in his “crotch area,” and his sexual activity with her in 2010 when she was 15 years of age. Those text messages served as the factual predicate for the single count of Corruption of Minors, 18 Pa. C.S. § 6301(a)(1), contained in the Criminal Information charging that Godlewski “did repeatedly have inappropriate text [m]essages and contact with a minor” in 2010. Indeed, Godlewski’s counsel conceded at the time of oral argument that “[t]he corruption of minors count in the complaint was consistent with the information in the affidavit.”
In his guilty plea colloquy in Godlewski I, Godlewski admitted that his executed colloquy was a “signed statement,” that he “kn[e]w exactly what you are charged with and what you are pleading to,” that he understood “that by pleading guilty you are admitting that you did the things you are charged with,” that he understood “the elements of the crime charged that you are pleading to,” and that he “admit[ted] that you did the above stated act” constituting corruption of a minor.
That means the stuff about his sexual activity with a minor wasn’t libel. It was just the truth — something QAnon acolytes often tend to have trouble seeing, much less acknowledging.
The same goes for the “rabbit holes.” At issue here was an illustration accompanying the Scranton Times article, which depicted a real estate sign reading “RABBIT HOLE FOR SALE!” beneath the words “UN-REALTOR.” Godlewski claimed this besmirched his real estate sideline by presenting him as an unscrupulous real estate agent.
The court, again, disagrees. It points out “rabbit hole” has been used in this context for years by any number of people to suggest being sucked into conspiracy theories. The reference added (UN-REALTOR) was not meant to question his ability to sell real estate, but rather to use Godlewski’s career as an additional punchline to punctuate his obsession with a long list of conspiracy theories he espoused on his broadcast, ranging from denying the United 93 crash ever happened to claiming California Governor Newsom had “killed himself” and had been replaced by a “clone.”
Finally, the court indirectly tells Godlewski he should probably actually read the article he’s suing over. The paper never said he participated in the January 6 raid on the Capitol. In fact, it unambiguously presents Godlewski’s own statements, in which he denies having attended while also noting that he falsely claimed hours after the raid that Vice President Mike Pence had been arrested.
It’s a complete shutout. Godlewski loses on every count. If he wasn’t a QAnon enthusiast, he might have recognized facts for what they are. But he’s so deep in his own bullshit, he can’t recognize the truth when it’s being reflected back at him by a local journalist. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear Godlewski will need to pay the paper’s legal fees for wasting its time with a lawsuit that was a loser the moment this “patriot broadcaster” brain-farted it into existence. And that’s the problem. Without strong anti-SLAPP laws, people are forced to engage with stupid litigants who are given every opportunity to drag innocent defendants down to their level and in hopes of beating them with their experience.