Capitol Insurrectionist Anthony Antonio Cites ‘Foxitis’ Defense

A Delaware man, Anthony Antonio, currently facing five charges related to his involvement in the January 6 Capitol insurrection claims that his regular viewing of Fox News contributed to his behavior during the riots. Antionio’s lawyer calls his client’s condition “Foxitis.”

“Fox television played constantly,” Antonio’s lawyer Joseph Hurley said during a video hearing Thursday. “He became hooked with what I call ‘Foxitis’ or ‘Foxmania,’ and became interested in the political aspect and started believing what was being fed to him.”

Antonio and his lawyer, however, are unlikely to change the opinion of a judge or a jury, as footage of Antonio shown during the hearing display him wearing a bulletproof vest and wearing a patch for the extremist group “the Three Percenters,” a white nationalist organization, while being intensely active during the chaos of the riots.

While Fox News is not being sued in the case of Antonio, Dominion Voting Systems currently seeks over $1 billion from the network. Dominion Voting Systems has filed a lawsuit against Fox News for reporting several false accusations of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election against the company.