Fox News accused of ‘revenge porn’ after airing explicit photos of Hunter Biden

Critics have questioned the news value of such images, given that Mr Biden has been open about his rock-bottom moments

Fox News has been accused of airing “revenge porn” after the network showed explicit images of Hunter Biden engaging in sex acts.

Both Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity showed the photos on their shows on Thursday, saying they came from Mr Biden’s missing laptop. One image appears to show the president’s son being straddled by two naked women. Another shows him pulling back a woman’s hair.

Critics have questioned the news value of such images, given that Mr Biden has been open about his past drug addictions and is not a member of his father’s administration.

“Fox News has released stolen Hunter Biden laptop photos – there is nothing incriminating or illegal, they are just embarrassing,” journalist Amee Vanderpool tweeted.

“I won’t post it but @seanhannity is straight up airing revenge porn to shame Hunter Biden’s sex life,” the lawyer and writer Bradley P. Moss wrote. “I am without words.”

On his show, Carlson was quick to use the photographs to criticise Joe Biden.

“He’s a weak liberal who has no control of the people around him,” he said.

Hannity’s tone was similarly judgmental as he showed another photo, which was not sexual in nature, showing Mr Biden’s rotted-out teeth.

“Look at the screen right there,” the host said. “Look at that. You see those teeth? Yeah, a well-known side effect for huge amounts of drug abuse, especially with crack cocaine.”

Hunter Biden is currently promoting his new memoir, Beautiful Things, which frankly depicts his worst rock-bottom moments while addicted to crack, alcohol, and other substances. He has not shied away from discussing those moments, even in interviews.

“Crack brought me to a place that I never had been to before – both in terms of the high, to be completely honest, but absolutely as relates to the low,” he told Jimmy Kimmel. “It was an absolutely awful experience.”

In the book, Mr Biden also discusses why he thinks the right wing has become so fixated on him and his struggles.

“I became a proxy for Donald Trump’s fear that he wouldn’t be re-elected,” he wrote. “It was a predictable enough tactic. I expected the president to get far more personal far earlier to exploit the demons and addictions I’ve dealt with for years.”