This story has been corrected to specificy Cubas’ disparaging remarks were directed toward transgender activists, not transgender people. In addition, Cubas claimed the articles gave information about the school his children attended. The article Cubas referenced in his filing does not identify his children’s school.
Jeremy Cubas, a former policy adviser to Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, has filed a libel lawsuit against two reporters and three news organizations, according to an Anchorage Superior Court filing dated Feb. 24.
In 2023, Cubas resigned from the governor’s office after the reporters questioned him for an article about a podcast in which he made multiple inflammatory comments, including that divorce was worse than rape and that it was impossible for a husband to rape his wife.
Cubas, representing himself in court, alleges in his filing that reporters Nat Herz and Curtis Gilbert acted with malicious intent when they paraphrased Cubas as having said “it’s fine for a man to force himself on his wife.”
In court filings, Cubas states that he said, “‘I don’t think it’s possible to rape your wife. I think that that’s an impossible act,’ but then immediately clarified that violent penetration of a wife is wrong.”
Cubas taught philosophy classes at the University of Alaska Anchorage for four years and his podcast was devoted to discussions of philosophy. He said by phone on Tuesday that what Herz and Gilbert wrote isn’t the same as what he said.
“One is an ontological claim, a claim of reality, while he then says that I made a normative claim, or a moral claim,” Cubas said.
Cubas also claimed in the filing that a second section of the article incorrectly characterizes his position on rape.
“What’s more important for me than any of the money that I’m asking for is really — I want an apology,” he said by phone. “I want a public apology from them.”
Cubas’ filing did not dispute sections of the article that discuss Cubas’ defense of Adolf Hitler, casual use of a racial slur, disparaging remarks toward transgender activists, and his labeling of Martin Luther King Jr. as a “loser.”
By phone, he said that those conversations involved discussions about the dichotomy of good and evil and how historical figures have more nuance. While he doesn’t agree with the articles’ description of them, “I find that part to be a little more difficult to (legally) argue,” he said.
The filing is taking place two years after his resignation, Cubas said, because he needed to take care of personal matters first. He has nine children, and having lost his job, he said his family took priority.
In his filing, Cubas said his children “suffered emotional distress due to targeted harassment” as a result of the news articles, and claimed the articles gave information about the school that they attended. The article Cubas referenced in his filing does not identify his children’s school.
In his filing, Cubas seeks $5.3 million in compensatory damages, punitive damages, and attorneys fees. In addition to Herz, an Alaska journalist who worked on the article for Alaska Public Media, and Gilbert, who co-wrote the article while working for American Public Media, the lawsuit also named three organizations as defendants: Alaska Public Media and American Public Media, which co-produced the story, and the Anchorage Daily News, which republished the article.
Reached by phone in Norway, Herz declined to comment on the lawsuit. An editor at American Public Media also declined comment. The Alaska Beacon regularly republishes articles by Herz and his newsletter, Northern Journal.
Attorney John McKay is representing Alaska Public Media and the Anchorage Daily News. The ADN had no comment on the case, McKay said, but on behalf of Alaska Public Media, he said, “We are confident this suit is without merit and will defend it vigorously.”
McKay has represented the Alaska Beacon in other matters.
The case has been preliminarily assigned to Judge Christina Rankin. No court date has been set.
• James Brooks is a longtime Alaska reporter, having previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. This article originally appeared online at alaskabeacon.com. Alaska Beacon, an affiliate of States Newsroom, is an independent, nonpartisan news organization focused on connecting Alaskans to their state government.
