The Buffalo media’s dogpile onto SVU Detective Richard Hy had some major developments since he blew the whistle in late April. The pressure on Buffalo, New York public schools ratcheted up once the local media realized that there was truth to Hy’s allegations, with teachers and parents coming forward. But one outlet in particular, Channel 2 WGRZ (the local NBC affiliate) was allegedly defaming Hy by falsely claiming he was on the infamous Brady List, according to Hy and Unsubscribe Podcast host Nic (a.k.a. The Fat Electrician); for which Hy threatened: “I'm not gonna sue the sh** out of them.”
On the May 24 episode of the Unsubscribe Podcast (episode 214), a very popular veteran-owned podcast, former National Guard medic and historian YouTuber The Fat Electrician, whose real name was Nic, announced that he had “built an entire case to sue one of the news channels” for allegedly defaming Hy.
According to Nic, each reporter for WGRZ (say for Nate Benson) who had been covering Hy’s allegations “sh**s on Rich to the point that it's now defamatory, and I can prove it.” Warning WGRZ that he had saved all the videos and articles in question, Nic contended that, “they've all claimed that detective Richard Hy is on the Brady Lists.”
The so-called “Brady List” was a registry of police officers who were apparently so untrustworthy that any testimony they gave under oath couldn’t be believed. As Hy explained, not only has his career been free of any questions of his integrity, but being on the Brady List would make it impossible for him to do his job as a detective:
The Brady List means that you, you're on like the no-fly list when it comes to the district attorneys for when you go and take the stand to testify. It specifically states that you have credibility issues, which I know I've never lied on the stand and all of my internal affairs or complaints never has to do with my evidence collection, my time on the stand, my integrity, or lying about any sort of charges that I've put on. So I have zero credibility issues on the stand. That is my history. But them saying that I'm on the Brady list would say. That I do have credibility issues and that I cannot testify because of those issues.
“I would say it's significant and would look very poorly in my career because a detective not being able to testify is significant,” he noted.
Nic brought the receipts in the form of a WGRZ video report where an unnamed reporter specifically claims that Hy was on the Brady List that it meant he had “credibility issues”:
Officer Hy alleges the district failed to report an attempted abduction, sexual assault, child abuse, and destroyed evidence, which he discovered while working a case, allegations that have outweighed Hy’s status on the Brady List, which is a list of law enforcement officers whom the Erie County District Attorney's office have found to have credibility issues.
“So, claiming that somebody is so un-credible that they can't even testify in court under oath is a pretty big allegation,” Nic said as he pointed out that WGRZ was the only Buffalo outlet doing it.
Nic then dropped a major bomb, proclaiming that he could get over a major hurdle for defamation case and prove that WGRZ was being malicious in their reporting. As he explained, he trained an A.I. to trawl through the outlet’s reporting and it discovered that Hy was the 3rd-most reported on cop in their history (Click “expand”):
NIC: The problem with defamation is if I was gonna sue you for it, I would have to prove that it wasn't a genuine mistake and that you did it maliciously. Right. So, how would I be able to prove that?
HY: Well, history –
BRANDON HERRERA: Other than –
HY: - would probably be able to.
NIC: Like an ongoing history? Cool. What if, what if, I trained an advanced AI to go through their entire website and catalog the top 10 officers in the history of the news source that they've written articles about, and Rich is the 3rd-most reported on cop in Buffalo history out of 800 police officers, and not a single article is near even remotely charitable to Rich.
HY: Some of them don't even have to do with me, but they bring me into the article to then defame me.
NIC: Any time they get a chance to throw him under the bus, they do it. Okay. So I can prove that he's the 3rd-most reported on cop in Buffalo's history out of 800 [censored] cops, which to me says that you've got a wild hair up your ass and you're gunning for him. Okay.
He also argued that he could prove WGRZ damaged Hy’s reputation, and other key factor in a successful defamation case:
Oh yeah, that’s was the other part is I would have to prove financial harm. Which would be tricky to do unless I - unless I got like 20 to 30 people to comb through every Reddit and Facebook post that's been out since this case broke and took screenshots of hundreds of people parroting the same talking point that Rich is on the Brady List. Which came directly from them, from a “credible” news source. Now I can prove that it did harm his reputation.
Demanding a dedicated article apologizing to his friend, Nic threatened to release all the evidence and let Hy pursue them legally: "I mean, I would make a whole [censored] article titled ‘WGRZ Apologizes to SVU Detective Richard Hy for [Censored] Lying,’ or I'm gonna turn over all this evidence and then go to the kitchen and grab some popcorn while I watch him sue the dog sh** out of you." Hy then held up a mug with "Bad B****" written on it.
Further, Nic said he didn’t know who was behind the targeting of Hy over at WGRZ, but “they're gonna cost that place a lot of [censored] money unless they start eating some crow.”
Hy quipped that any image they use of him for the apology article “better be flattering. If I have two chins, I'm not gonna sue the sh** out of them.”
WGRZ had not issued an apology to Hy as of the publishing of this piece.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
Unsubscribe Podcast
May 24, 2025(…)
NIC (The Fat Electrician): Speaking of news, you guys want to sue one of the news channels?
RICHARD HY (Angry Cops): Oh, get ready for this!
NIC: I built an entire case to sue one of the news channels.
BRANNDON HERRERA: All right, what's the case?
CODY GARRETT (Donut Operator): Were we slandered Nick?
NIC: Well, Rich was defamed.
HY: I was defamed.
NIC: And I can prove it. I built an entire case out for it.
HERRERA: Neat.
NIC: Neat.
HY: It’s very exciting.
HERRERA: So, for all the lawyers out there, this is called foreshadowing.
NIC: I'm conflicted because, “A” this news channel's been the least courteous to Rich, but they've also got the best journalist working for them. So it's, it's kind of one of those cases where like Nate Benson works for Channel 2 WGRZ. But everybody else that writes on it that isn't Nate Benson, shits on Rich to the point that it's now defamatory, and I can prove it. Okay.
So, in multiple articles, including YouTube videos that they put up, which I have saved, and news broadcasts that they've aired, which I have saved, and news articles that they've printed, they've all claimed that detective Richard Hy is on the Brady Lists.
HERRERA: Yeah.
HY: Do you know what the Brady list is?
HERRERA: Which is incorrect.
NIC: Guess what I have.
HERRERA: Well, would you like to explain what the Brady List is?
HY: The Brady List means that you, you're on like the no-fly list when it comes to the district attorneys for when you go and take the stand to testify. It specifically states that you have credibility issues, which I know I've never lied on the stand and all of my internal affairs or complaints never has to do with my evidence collection, my time on the stand, my integrity, or lying about any sort of charges that I've put on. So I have zero credibility issues on the stand. That is my history.
But them saying that I'm on the Brady list would say. That I do have credibility issues and that I cannot testify because of those issues.
NIC: Pretty big allegation.
HY: I would say it's significant and would look very poorly in my career because a detective not being able to testify is significant.
NIC: That would be crazy.
GARRETT: Very damaging.
ELI CUEVAS (Eli Doubletap): And then if we put it right here, right? We can show the clips of them saying that right here.
NIC: Yeah. I have them.
[Cuts to Channel 2 WGRZ report]
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The allegations made on the Unsubscribed Podcast by Buffalo Police Detective Richard Hy have prompted the Buffalo School Board to seek an outside investigator. Officer Hy alleges the district failed to report an attempted abduction, sexual assault, child abuse, and destroyed evidence, which he discovered while working a case, allegations that have outweighed Hy’s status on the Brady List, which is a list of law enforcement officers whom the Erie County District Attorney's office have found to have credibility issues.
[Cuts back]
NIC: So Channel 2 is the only one that even after it came out, they're like, ‘Oh, he's actually onto something.’ When all the other news channels just started referring to him as SVU veteran detective Richard Hy, they would still put in the article, these allegations appear to outweigh his placing on the Brady List, like, like just mad that they have to admit that he's doing the right thing.
Well, I have the Brady List. Guess who's not on [censored] it? Richard Hy.
[Hy points at himself]
So, claiming that somebody is so un-credible that they can't even testify in court under oath is a pretty big allegation. Right? The problem with defamation is if I was gonna sue you for it, I would have to prove that it wasn't a genuine mistake and that you did it maliciously. Right. So, how would I be able to prove that?
HY: Well, history –
HERRERA: Other than –
HY: - would probably be able to.
NIC: Like an ongoing history? Cool. What if, what if, I trained an advanced AI to go through their entire website and catalog the top 10 officers in the history of the news source that they've written articles about, and Rich is the 3rd-most reported on cop in Buffalo history out of 800 police officers, and not a single article is near even remotely charitable to Rich.
HY: Some of them don't even have to do with me, but they bring me into the article to then defame me.
NIC: Any time they get a chance to throw him under the bus, they do it. Okay. So I can prove that he's the 3rd-most reported on cop in Buffalo's history out of 800 [censored] cops, which to me says that you've got a wild hair up your ass and you're gunning for him. Okay.
So, I'm able to prove that you, you would lie on purpose because you don't like him. Right? But then, what's even harder is I then have to go out and I have to prove that he's “A” not on the Brady lists, which he isn't. And then what was the other facet? I have to prove that –
HERRERA: It wasn't a mistake.
NIC: It wasn't a mistake, which you know, the evidence seems to imply that.
CUEVAS: If they try to fix it is Sunday, May 18, 2025 when this comes out. I don't want them to be like, ‘oh look, see.’
HY: Better redact this.
CUEVAS: Yeah, like this is the exact date. I will then enter again.
NIC: I have it all saved.
HERRERA: We have the Wayback Machine [Censored].
CUEVAS: Yes.
NIC: I have it all saved and cataloged. But like the then the real problem is like, okay, so I proved it was malicious. I’ve proved that, you know, you are lying and that was on purpose. You've got, you know, you maliciously did this to Rich. So then the problem is like, ‘Okay, well, it's just one cop, its one detective out of 800. How much is that really worth in a defamation case, right?’ But then you got to realize, Rich is probably the most famous active serving cop in the world. Anybody think of another cop?
CUEVAS: Like active -
NIC: A cop with multiple millions of subscribers that's recognized nationwide and globally who built his entire online persona around accountability doing the right thing. And then you come out and you say that he's such a piece of shit that he can't testify under oath because he lies all the time? Seems like that'd be worth a lot of [censored] money in court.
HERRERA: Yeah, and also that proves a financial harm to your brand.
[Crosstalk]
NIC: Oh yeah, that’s was the other part is I would have to prove financial harm. Which would be tricky to do unless I - unless I got like 20 to 30 people to comb through every Reddit and Facebook post that's been out since this case broke and took screenshots of hundreds of people parroting the same talking point that Rich is on the Brady List.
HY: Oh.
NIC: Which came directly from them, from a “credible” news source. Now I can prove that it did harm his reputation.
HERRERA: Hm.
GARRETT: Yeah.
HY: If there's any lawyers that would like to take up this case.
NIC: Yeah, so I guess I'm saying if I were Channel 2 within like 48 hours of this video dropping, I would have a whole article apologizing to Richard Hy on how you guys were wrong. And when I say a whole article, I don't mean go back and change the articles. I mean, I would make a whole [censored] article titled ‘WGRZ Apologizes to SVU Detective Richard Hy for [Censored] Lying,’ or I'm gonna turn over all this evidence and then go to the kitchen and grab some popcorn while I watch him sue the dog shit out of you.
HY: Cheers. [Holds up mug that read “Bad Bitch”]
HERRERA: I love you.
CUEVAS: I like this.
(…)
NIC: [Reading from WGRZ article] “Hy's allegations have outweighed his status on the Erie County District Attorney Office's database for law enforcement officers with credibility concerns.” Even though he's not on it and never [censored] was.
HY: Quote, Channel 2 WGRZ.
NIC: [Laughter]
HY: [Dramatic belch with reverb]
CUEVAS: Oh my God.
GARRETT: Whoa, whoa, whoa, you're being foul.
[Crosstalk]
CUEVAS: “A” they’re just going through comments.
NIC: Oh yeah, I got hundreds. I got hundreds of comments parroting their false talking point where they defamed him, and I have the screenshots of all those comments already.
So, I mean, if they don't want to apologize publicly with its own article and put it up on your [censored] YouTube channel and the news broadcast. Then I'm just gonna turn it over and I can prove that you've written about him the 3rd-most out of 800 cops over the course of his career. Nothing's ever been charitable. You throw him under the bus, every chance you can get. I can prove he's not on the Brady list, and then I can prove that I have hundreds of comments of people parroting your false talking points to discredit him. As, you know, defamation and harm to your credibility for the most famous cop in the world. So, that reputation is worth a lot of [censored] money.
Up to you guys.
HERRERA: Perry that [censored].
NIC: Nate Benson, sorry, you're a great journalist, but somebody else working at that news agency has it out to get him. I don't know if it's Ron Plants or the guy writing his scripts, but [censored] they're gonna cost that place a lot of [censored] money unless they start eating some crow.
HY: [Makes crow noises]
NIC: So, see you soon.
CUEVAS: What picture do you want them to use of you, Rich?
HY: It better be flattering. If I have two chins, I'm not gonna sue the shit out of them.
CUEVAS: I want one and then the rainbow vomit one.
HY: The rainbow vomit one?
[Laughter]
(…)
