Frantic upcoming Rebel News fundraiser -- anti-SLAPP edition.

A moderately unreliable source informs me that Rebel News' Ezra Levant is getting his ass handed to him financial-wise with respect to the two recent anti-SLAPP motions that he just lost. Given that the losing plaintiff in such SLAPPfests is responsible for not only his own costs but the full and complete costs of the successful defendant, it appears that Ezra is set for another round of plaintive sobbing and hurried collection from his reliable band of intellectual defectives known as "Rebel Nation."

Regarding Easy E's doomed action against Al Jazeera, that (actual) media outlet is reportedly asking for $270,000 in costs, while (also reportedly) Ezra's legal braintrusts are insisting that they got their asses kicked to the tune of only $70,000. As long as AJ has the receipts, one suspects their position should prevail. The other winner in the "Boot Ezra in the joy department" sweepstakes would be one Brendan Demelle, who is asking for a paltry $65,000 in costs.

Of course, Ezra is also on the hook for his own legal fees which, in the case of the Al Jazeera action, reportedly exceed $50,000, so even if we conservatively guesstimate half that for the DeMelle action, that suggests that, for the pleasure of bitching and whining that people were mean to him, Ezra needs to hand over just north of $400,000. But it gets so much worse.

Ezra and his team of legal beagles have already filed appeals in both of the above which, after they lose, they will be responsible for all over again. Even being stupidly generous and assuming those total costs on all sides won't exceed $100,000, we're talking a cool half million because Ezra took umbrage with someone describing him as a waste of skin and festering pile of human garbage on two legs (I might be paraphrasing). By the way, I have perused the appeals -- they have less merit than a Lorrie Goldstein column, and would be an embarrassment to a first-year law student with a massive head injury.

Did someone say "fundraiser?"

BONUS TRACK: It's worth remembering that all of the above is taking place in the context of Ezra currently being sued for $200,000 for defamation by one Farhan Chak, so self-described "oil patch arm candy" Sheila Gunn Reid might want to drag that chicken bucket out of the closet:

Tack onto all that Ezra's recent settlememt with CJPME, and Rebel's recent YouTube demonetization, one suspects Rebel is not going on a hiring spree anytime soon.

DOUBLE BONUS: In the midst of all this, can we all remember that Ezra is currently fundraising to fight his $3,000 fine for violating election finance rules, and that he is asking for at least $100,000 to do that:

You read that correctly -- Ezra is determined to spend over $100,000 to fight a completely appropriate and merited $3,000 fine. Perhaps his gullible donors should take a moment to wonder if that's money well spent.