Alec Baldwin Facing $25 Million Defamation Lawsuit Filed By Late Marine's Family
Alec Baldwin is at the center of multiple lawsuits connected to the fatal shooting on the Rust set. But now the actor is facing another lawsuit, one brought forth by the family of a fallen marine.
The wife and sisters of Lance Corporal Rylee J. McCollum are suing Alec for defamation after they allege the actor accused one of their family members of being an “insurrectionist” in the U.S. Capital Riots, which occurred in January 2021.
The family is seeking $25 million in damages for invasion of privacy and emotional distress inflicted by Alec’s reported allegations.
McCollum died in a suicide bomber attack in Kabul, Afghanistan months after the riots in August. Following his death, his family set up a GoFundMe page to support his widow, Jiennah, who was pregnant with the couple’s daughter. Alec reportedly reached out to the Marine’s sister, Roice, to arrange to send a $5,000 donation to the family.
However, Alec allegedly rescinded the donation after Roice shared a photo to social media in January 2022 remembering the 1-year anniversary of the riots, which she revealed she attended the year prior.
“When I sent the $ for your late brother, out of real respect for his service to this country, I didn’t know you were a January 6th rioter,” the lawsuit says Alec wrote to her via Instagram message.
Roice defended herself to the Bettlejuice actor, writing, “Protesting is perfectly legal in the country and I’ve already had my sit down with the FBI. Thanks, have a nice day!”
The lawsuit emphasizes that Roice was never charged in connection to the riots.
Alec replied, “I don’t think so. Your activities resulted in the unlawful destruction of government property, the death of a law enforcement officer, an assault on the certification of the presidential election. I reposted your photo. Good luck.”
The actor went on to share screenshots of his private messages to the Marine’s sister on his Instagram. The lawsuit claims this triggered his followers to send her hostile messages via social media.
“I offered to send her sister-in-law [Jiennah McCollum] some $ as a tribute to her late brother, his widow and their child. Which I did. As a tribute to a fallen soldier,” he captioned his post. “Then I find this. Truth is stranger than fiction.”
Alec has yet to publicly respond to the lawsuit. He’s also being named in a number of lawsuits over the death of Halyna Hutchins while filming Rust – Alec was pointing the gun that killed the cinematographer.
Sources: Global News, NBC News,
from TheRichest - Feed https://ift.tt/Sl739Bz
Post a Comment