@JasonKPargin The biggest problem with this is that it is currently heavily subsidized. At it's true cost the adoption rate would be a fraction of what it is currently.
Just watched the film in question, waiting for the part where he did something that might justify the legal action against him, and man, this lawsuit is some bs.
Summary: Andrew made a documentary about a January 6th protestor and recurring figure at right-wing rallies, Kelly, in which he noticed that a lot of the man's political radicalization seemed to be downstream of a home foreclosure. The man was obsessed with Bill Joiner, who extended the loan that led to the foreclosure and who he claimed had "stolen his house."
As part of the documentary, Andrew went to extensive efforts to contact Joiner, but never managed to do so. The documentary is overwhelmingly focused on Kelly and his relationship with his family, and at one point towards the end of the film they work to persuade Kelly to let go of his grudge against Joiner and move on, showing Kelly forgiving him at one point. The film does not take Kelly's frame at face value and does not portray Joiner as anything beyond a faceless lender who foreclosed on the home of a man who was behind on his payments.
Joiner sued in federal court for false light, wiretapping, and a host of other things, dragging things into discovery and into a deposition of Andrew before – $800,000 of legal fees in – dropping the suit and re-filing in state court.
From what I can see, the suit is ridiculous and the process has already been far beyond what could possibly be proportionate for the situation.
Andrew Callaghan is one of the most compelling human-interest journalists in the country, and it is very much in the public interest that he and journalists like him continue to do this sort of reporting. I'm encouraged to see his GoFundMe has already hit its $800,000 target, but man, what a dumb situation to be dragged into.