After Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder filed a lawsuit against the Washington City Paper which a Redskins general counsel claimed would “presumably quickly outstrip the asset value” of the publication, the newspaper has announced the establishment of a legal defense fund.
Over the last few days, calls for the City Paper to set up a clearinghouse of support have been frequent. The website hosting the fund, unveiled early Friday evening, includes a message to the newspaper’s readers:
We think the value of our paper will survive this lawsuit, and we intend to fight it vigorously. We have truth on our side and, as the last few days have made clear, we are grateful to have the public on our side as well.
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This isn’t really about the money. (Though the money definitely helps—this case will be expensive, even though we’re well-prepared to fight it.) Whatever we raise will be used to pay our legal costs, and whatever we don’t spend fighting Snyder’s lawsuit, we’ll give to a local charity in the spirit of this fund. This is about showing Snyder you support our right—and anyone’s right—to write the truth about him, or any powerful public figure, even if it’s not flattering.
The website also allows people to declare their support for the paper without donating financially. The paper says that whatever money donated to the fund which is not used to fight the Snyder lawsuit will be donated to a local charity.