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MISHAWAKA, Ind. — REAL News Michiana has obtained a letter from attorneys for local “conservative” radio talk show host Casey Hendrickson and his employer, 95.3 MNC, threatening legal action against an actual combat veteran who has been exposing multiple instances of Hendrickson committing acts of Stolen Valor. The letter falsely claims Iraq and Afghanistan Veteran, Benjamin Dallas, has committed Copyright infringement for satirical uses of Hendrickson’s radio show set and theme song in videos he has posted to Youtube. In those videos, Dallas uses a combination of satire and commentary to expose Hendrickson lied about serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and in US Special Forces operations.
“While you have the right to make non-defamatory critical statements about our programming, it has come to our attention that you have, on more than one occasion, improperly and unlawfully used Federated Media’s property in your social media activity. These include the following symbols used as a backdrop for your videos and/or podcast,” the letter from the law firm Barrett McNagny reads. “You have also used the same introductory music and sound effects associated with the program ‘The Burning Truth’ and appropriated that opening for your podcasts/videos: ‘Time to light the match for the Burning Truth with Ben Dallas.’ One example is the youtube video ‘Veteran’s Podcast Gives Stolen Valor Pass.'”
The letter goes on to falsely claim the “manner” in which Dallas satirically used the backdrop and theme song was a violation of US Copyright Laws.
“The use of Federated Media’s property without the permission of the owner and in the manner in which you have used it appears to be made with the intent to trade on the goodwill associated with Federated Media and its property. It also creates the false impression that you are associated with or connected to Federated Media and/or that the content of your publication originated from and/or is endorsed by Federated Media.”
The letter from Hendrickson’s attorneys fails to mention Dallas’ use of the backdrop and them song clearly fall under the “Fair Use” doctrine of the US Copyright act which allows for the use of Copyrighted material for the uses of criticism, news, commentary and satire, among other things. Dallas has created several videos using Hendrickson’s backdrop and theme song to create commentary regarding Hendrickson’s acts of Stolen Valor. Further, the copyrighted material has been used in an obvious satirical manner, including instances of merging Hendrickson’s show themes with that of the children’s show “Elmo”.
“This is an obvious bullying tactic, led by a disgraced, former service member who was caught committing stolen valor.” Dallas wrote in a statement provided to RNM. “I will not be intimidated, or silenced, by a bottom feeder who consistently uses his brief time in the military, as a vehicle for self-promotion & embellishment. My videos that were spoofing the opening content of Casey Hendrickson’s show, were obviously satire. The law is very clear on this. I won’t be deleting any content because someone happens to be delicate or has hurt feelings. If anything, this has motivated me to create more content about him. Furthermore, this wouldn’t have been an issue if Federated Media wouldn’t have continued to employ a fraud who knowingly lies to his audience (daily), while disgracing this nation’s Veterans by committing stolen valor. If Casey Hendrickson wants me to stop making videos about him, he should try telling the truth for once. Bullying me with legal action for exercising my right to free speech, is just as disgraceful as his non-existent military record overseas.
“Finally, as a sign of good faith, I WILL AGREE to take down all of my content regarding Casey Hendrickson, under the following conditions; Federated Media terminates any and all relationships/contracts/employment agreements with Casey Hendrickson due to his repeated acts of stolen valor. Or, Casey Hendrickson makes a statement on-air every day for one week admitting to, and apologizing for the following: Committing acts of stolen valor by repeatedly deceiving his audience regarding his military service. Admitting that he has lied to and or deceived his audience about serving in Iraq & Afghanistan. And admitting to his audience that he lied to or deceived his audience into believing he was a member of any U.S Army Special Forces unit. All Statements must be approved by me to ensure their accuracy.”
One example of the videos posted by Dallas can be seen below.
STOLEN VALOR
In November of last year, REAL News Michiana published a story and video showing Hendrickson lied about serving in Iraq on at least one occasion. In one episode of his daily show from more than a year ago, Hendrickson was talking about the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. During that conversation, Hendrickson tried to use his military experience to make it seem as if he was a subject matter expert by claiming he was an Iraq War veteran. It turns out, Hendrickson was NEVER deployed to a combat zone.
“I’ve been talking about this conflict since it happened. I know that most of you are aware of my history with Iraq and to a broader extent, my unit history if you will, in Afghanistan. I’ve talked about that in the past, I don’t need to go into details about it.” Hendrickson said on the air. “So, I think some of you who have listened for an extended period of time, understand I have a fairly decent grasp of what’s going on… mostly because of my time in service.”
RNM has put in a Freedom of Information Act Request for Hendrickson’s military records, however, those requests can take months and even years to be fulfilled. While we have confirmed Hendrickson did at least enlist in the Army and go to basic training, we have found no records that he even made it out of AIT for Infantry training (which is the job he has claimed to have in service). Further, Hendrickson has told RNM’s founder Clifton French in the past that he never served in combat, but did not get into exact details about his time in service.
On top of his daily radio show, Hendrickson is also a host of a “Veterans” podcast with several other vets called “The Common Veterans”. After discovering the clip of Hendrickson committing Stolen Valor, RNM sent an email to “The Common Veterans”. That email was sent using the podcast website’s auto generated contact field, meaning RNM could not attach a copy of the video and we were only briefly able to describe Hendrickson’s lies. One host addressed the email in their latest podcast, defending Hendrickson for his acts of Stolen Valor. That host went even further, by then threatening physical violence against RNM’s founder, Clifton French, who is an actual veteran of the Iraq War.
“There is no Stolen Valor on this show. We do not accept Stolen Valor. We do not accept our members being called out for Stolen Valor. Especially when said member (Casey Hendrickson) has specifically said that he has no combat experience.” The host said in their November 28th podcast, ignoring the fact that Hendrickson has claimed to serve in Iraq in the past as evidenced in the video above. “For those that emailed me about it, they can go jump off a cliff… And the one I’m calling out, I’d just rather, you know, Jake Paul your ass.” (The audio of that clip can be listened to below).
Hendrickson has spent hours attacking others for committing the same Stolen Valor that he has. In 2024, he used several episodes of his show to rightfully attack Democrat Vice Presidential Candidate Tim Walz for exaggerating and lying about his military background. He also lambasted Walz for not deploying to Iraq with his Army National Guard unit.
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