(NewsSpace.com) — During the chaotic withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in August 2021, a suicide bomber attacked, killing 13 US servicemembers. Among the deaths was Marine Lance Rylee McCollum, who left behind a pregnant wife who gave birth just one month later. To help with expenses, the family set up a GoFundMe fundraiser, which prompted Alec Baldwin to donate. However, just a few months later, the family was suing him for defamation.
In 2021, Alec Baldwin sent a check to McCollum’s sister, Roice, for $5,000. Then, several months later, he noticed one of her posts celebrating the one-year anniversary of the January 6 riot and changed his tune. He posted a message to confirm her identity and then proceeded to message her privately, calling her out for her actions and mistakenly calling another sister an “insurrectionist.” Then he said he reposted the photo Roice shared on Instagram. She instantly started receiving hate messages and threats.
The McCollum family then sued for defamation in two separate cases. The first was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. The second was filed in New York in August and sought $25 million in damages. However, Judge Edgardo Ramos of the US Southern District of New York dismissed the case but invited the family to submit an amended lawsuit. They failed to do so, and now the case has wrapped up. Judge Ramos said that McCollum failed to prove that Baldwin acted with malice; therefore, his comments were protected under the First Amendment.
The Daily Mail reported that Emily Miller, an investigative journalist, broke the news that the two parties settled the lawsuit, with their attorney Dennis Postiglione saying the McCollum family is “happy that this matter is over.” However, according to the Casper Star Tribune, Baldwin’s attorney, Luke Nikas, stated that the case was closed in October and the actor did not have to pay anything to settle it, and that any reports that he paid money “are inaccurate.”
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