Manager: Libel lawsuit has no merit

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:09:21 -0400

Tom Fetzer's libel lawsuit has no merit, said Paul Knight, the general manager of a Wilmington radio station being sued by the former Raleigh mayor.

"We didn't slander or libel him," Knight said this afternoon, Sarah Ovaska reports.

Fetzer, who is campaigning to head the N.C. Republican Party, filed a libel lawsuit Monday in Wake County against Curtis Wright and Sea-Comm Inc., the company that runs 93.7 and 106, two Wilmington-area talk radio stations that Wright has a morning show on.

In the lawsuit, Fetzer claims that Wright sent an email to multiple county GOP chairs questioning the candidates for the selection next weekend of a new state party chair. The email included a copy of an anonymous letter insinuating that Fetzer is gay.

Though Fetzer doesn't mention specifically what the potentially libelous statements are in his lawsuit, he has denied he is gay.

Knight said he will have his lawyers file a motion to dismiss the suit either the end of this week or next.

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Manager: Libel lawsuit has no merit