The YouTuber behind the channel ‘Feminism Debunked’ was ordered to appear in court for broadcasting footage from Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation trial against Network 10. Today his lawyers explained his actions.
According to orders from Justice Michael Lee made last December, footage from the massive month-long defamation trial between Bruce Lehrmann and Network 10 appeared in nine videos that were posted to the YouTube channel Feminism Debunked.
The Lehrmann V Network 10 defamation case was heard in the Federal Court and live-streamed online, however at the time Lee stated that this was only for the public to “observe and listen” and not to republish.
If an individual republishes any footage from the hearings it could result in them being charged with contempt of court — the interference in or undermining of a court’s process.
The publisher in question was identified as Glenn Logan, and was ordered to appear in court on February 13 and explain why charges should not be brought against him.
When the issue was first raised, Logan had posted nine videos to his channel that contained prohibited footage from the defamation trial. Currently the YouTube channel has no videos visible on its page.
Logan admitted to posting the prohibited footage in his videos, but failed to show up to the Federal Court hearing on Tuesday due to running late in his flight from Melbourne to Sydney.
He was represented by his lawyer Patrick Schmidt, who told the Federal Court that at the time Logan posted the videos he was unaware the footage was prohibited.
“While his actions were not intentional, they were reckless,” Schmidt said to the court.
Justice Lee said Logan’s absence was “unacceptable” and that the contempt of court proceedings will be taken further.
In court it was declared that Logan is “of low intelligence” and has been diagnosed with various mental health issues.
As of writing Logan has not been charged with contempt of court.
