Radke Sues Anthony Fantano for Defamation

Falling in Reverse frontman Ronnie Radke has reportedly filed a defamation suit against online critic Anthony Fantano, claiming that the social media star had “acted in malice” and “engaged in fraud” in posting commentary about the singer in a 2023 video titled “This Guy Sucks.”

Radke and Fantano had previously engaged in a Twitter war in February 2023 over Fantano’s review of “Watch the World Burn,” but their beef took on a more personal turn with Fantano’s posting of the “This Guy Sucks” video in August 2023. In this video, Fantano detailed a listing of supposed allegations made against Radke over the years.

Radke took legal action, filing the defamation suit on Tuesday, August 20, in Los Angeles Superior Court, basing it on the aforementioned video posted on Fantano’s YouTube platform. Fantano is also active on TikTok, Instagram, and X.

Radke had previously warned via social media posts of potential legal action against Fantano if the video was not removed, but the video remains posted as of press time.

Within the suit, Radke’s legal team argues that Fantano’s actions went “outside the bounds of permissible commentary and extend well into the realm of actionable innuendo, unfounded rumormongering, and outright untruth.”

Additionally, it’s claimed that Fantano misleadingly used music website headlines to support his narrative. The lawsuit details three alleged accusations from the video in which Radke had been accused of certain infractions that were later retracted by the accusers. In each of these instances, the lawsuit claims that Fantano failed to mention how each of these accusations against Radke had turned out.

The suit alleges that by not disclosing the resolutions to each of the incidents, “Fantano acted with malice aforethought and/or engaged in fraud, malice, and/or oppression.”

As a result, Radke is seeking punitive damages against Fantano. A case management conference concerning the case is currently scheduled for December 18.

Following the news of the lawsuit hitting the internet, Radke addressed a commenter on the X platform who criticized him by asking, “How’s he gonna complain about how he can’t say anything, but then sue people for … saying things?”

Radke responded, “Yea, you should be allowed to say what you want, and also not call people rapist or repeat insanely false damning traumatic shit. Unacceptable. Stand up for yourself.”

Radke’s move to bring the matter to court indicates that he is taking a firm stand against what he perceives as damaging and unfounded allegations. Whether or not the suit will be successful remains to be seen, but it has certainly added another layer to the ongoing public dispute between the two figures.

Source: Rock Feed