The household of a Marine killed in Afghanistan has revived a defamation lawsuit in opposition to Alec Baldwin over feedback the actor made on-line.
The sisters and widow of Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum allege Baldwin subjected them to on-line threats and harassment after he posted and commented on a photograph shared on-line by one in every of McCollum’s sisters, Roice McCollum, who had been in Washington in the course of the Jan. 6, 2021 rebel.
Baldwin had donated $5,000 to the household after studying of the loss of life of Rylee McCollum in a bombing at the airport in Kabul in August 2021, simply weeks earlier than his daughter was born. Baldwin had contacted Roice McCollum through Instagram, in response to the lawsuit.
In January 2022, Baldwin noticed that Roice McCollum posted an image of demonstrators from former President Donald Trump’s rally taken on the day Congress counted the Electoral Faculty votes from the 2020 presidential election, in response to the criticism.
Baldwin despatched her a personal message and confirmed she had organized the fundraiser for her brother, the lawsuit stated. She responded that her participation within the protest was “completely authorized,” in response to court docket paperwork.
Baldwin instructed Roice McCollum he would share her photograph along with his 2.4 million Instagram followers and wrote: “Good luck,” in response to the lawsuit.
Within the lawsuit, Roice McCollum stated she “didn’t participate in, nor did she assist or condone the rioting that erupted” on the Capitol, and was cleared of any wrongdoing after assembly with the FBI.
The household’s lawsuit was initially filed in Wyoming however dismissed by a judge there in Might for lack of jurisdiction as a result of Baldwin made the posts in New York and so they weren’t directed particularly at a Wyoming viewers.
The present lawsuit was filed in New York on Friday and seeks a mixed $25 million in punitive and compensatory damages.
Baldwin had requested for the case to be dismissed in Wyoming, saying he was expressing his political opinion and that claims by McCollum’s sister Cheyenne McCollum and his widow Jiennah McCollum must be dismissed as a result of he didn’t make any statements about them.
In an e mail, Luke Nikas, an lawyer representing Baldwin, stated “Mr. Baldwin donated a number of thousand {dollars} to Ms. McCollum to honor her husband, and now she’s suing him for extra as a result of she disagrees along with his political opinion in regards to the rebel that occurred on January sixth on the U.S. Capitol Constructing. We anticipate to prevail on this lawsuit, as we did the final time they filed it.”
