https://themeck.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-birmingham-news-16-million.html
Saturday, January 05, 2019
Friday, January 04, 2019
Donald Watkins Demands Retraction And Apology From AL.com
Donald V. Watkins, P.C.
Attorney at Law
2160 Highland Avenue South
Suite 100
Birmingham, AL 35205
January 3, 2019
Delivered Via Email
Mr. Tom Bates
Mr. Tom Bates
President
Alabama Media Group
1731 1st Avenue N.
Birmingham, Alabama 35203
Re: Demand for Retraction and Apology
Dear Mr. Bates,
On November 29, 2018, Mr. John Archibald, a columnist/reporter for the Alabama Media Group, wrote and published an article titled, “Donald Watkins charged; this will be one for the ages.” In the article, Archibald made the following statement as a matter of fact:
“When [Watkins] took on [U.S. Attorney Frank]Donaldson he said his job was to ‘kick white people’s ass’.” I never made the “kick white people’s ass” comment. As such, this published statement is false, libelous, and defamatory.
The “kick white people’s ass” comment was repeated and published as a statement of
fact in a December 25, 2018 article written by Reckon Managing Editor John Hammontree
titled, “25 people to watch in 2019.” Again, this statement is false, libelous, and defamatory.
John Archibald has refused my private and public requests to retract this false statement and issue me an apology. Likewise, John Hammontree has made no effort to retract his Christmas Day publication of this false statement. Instead, Archibald issued the
following statement in an article he published on December 31, 2018:
"… I quoted the comment from 28-year-old memory, and that’s not a smart thing to do. I can’t prove he said it any more than he can prove he didn’t. I sure hope he did say it, because I put those words in his mouth and if they’re wrong I did him a profound disservice.”
This statement acknowledges that Archibald had no proof that I made this racist comment other than his faulty “28-year-old-memory.” By his own admission, Archibald cannot prove I made this comment and is now relying on the “hope” that I said it “because [he] put those words in [my] mouth and if they’re wrong [he] did [me] a profound disservice.
Archibald’s candid admission regarding this fabricated racist comment, which was attributed to me in the two AL.com articles cited above, evidences a reckless disregard for the truth about this libelous statement.
We have found no Alabama statute or case law that sanctions the publication of a false statement on the “hope” that it later turns out to be true.
I am now demanding an immediate retraction of Archibald’s and Hammontree’s false “kick white people’s ass” comment from their employer. The retraction must appear in the same medium of publication and in a prominent position therein. I am also demanding a full public apology for John Archibald’s and John Hammontree’s reckless conduct in writing and publishing the libelous “kick white people’s ass” comment.
Finally, I reserved all of my legal rights in this matter.
Sincerely,
Donald V. Watkins
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