ACLU backs John Oliver in $#!t-storm suit

John Oliver has every right to tell a coal-mining magnate to “eat s--t” and compare him to a “geriatric Dr. Evil” on his HBO show, the American Civil Liberties Union says in a new court filing.

Murray Energy owner Robert E. Murray can’t sue for defamation just because his “delicate sensibilities were offended,” the ACLU’s West Virginia branch says in a legal brief filed Wednesday.

“Although this brief pokes fun at the absurdity of this case, the legal issues raised by it are anything but comical,” wrote ACLU lawyer Jamie Lynn Crofts. “It is a basic concept of free speech that you do not get to sue media organizations because you don’t like their coverage.”

Crofts’ 17-page amicus brief contains headers such as, “Anyone can legally say ‘Eat s--t, Bob!’ ” and “You can’t get a court order telling the press how to cover stories, Bob.”

Murray sued Oliver for defamation after a segment on the comic’s June 18 episode of “Last Week Tonight.” In the show, Oliver ripped Murray for blaming a deadly 2007 collapse at a mine in Utah on an earthquake, and for not doing more to protect his workers.

Crofts says Oliver’s speech about matters of public concern is protected by the First Amendment and that the suit should be tossed.

“It is irrelevant that Bob Murray apparently finds this protected speech offensive,” the lawyer wrote, citing a court case that ruled, “If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.”