Disgraced actor Alec Baldwin has been hit with a defamation lawsuit after allegedly accusing the sister of a U.S. Marine killed in Afghanistan of participating in the Capitol Hill riots on January 6th, 2021.
Fox News reports that the lawsuit has been filed by the family of the fallen U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, who was killed in a suicide bombing attack that took place during the Biden administration’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal.
According to the document, the fallen U.S. Marine’s family is seeking $25 million for defamation, invasion of privacy, negligence, and intentional distress stemming from an interaction between the actor and Cpl. McCollum’s sister, Roice.
Earlier this month, Alec Baldwin shared a now-deleted Instagram post revealing that he had reached out to McCollum’s sister Roice and gave her the sum of $5,000 with the instruction to give the cheque to the the soldier’s widow, Jiennah Crayton, in order to help her with her newborn daughter.
However, on January 1st, 2022, Roice shared a series of three photos to her Instagram which showed her at the Capitol and the Washington Monument on January 6th, 2021 during the day’s early protests and prior to its later riots.
This didn’t sit well with the leftist actor, as shortly after Roice shared the pictures, Baldwin messaged her, “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.”
“Protesting is perfectly legal in the country and I’ve already had my sit down with the FBI,” she replied. “Thanks, have a nice day!”
“I don’t think so,” Baldwin fired back. “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.”
In conclusion to their exchange, Baldwin ominously warned Roice, “I reposted your photo. Good luck.”
Baldwin then shared Roice’s photos to his own Instagram page , writing, “I will take this down tomorrow. Lots of Trumpsters chiming in here with the current cry that the attack on the Capitol was a protest, (a more peaceful form which got a lot of other protestors imprisoned) and an exxercise in democracy. That’s bulls–t.”
“The party that has reflexively railed on behalf of Law enforcement-Support the Troops-Jesus watched the Capitol police get beaten, one killed, and called it their right,” he added.” I’ve said it before. The Republican that can lead the GOP away from this maniac will go down in history as a hero.”
“There’s an interesting story here,” he captioned the photo of Roice at the Washington Monument. “So, I read in The Times, I believe, the story about the soldiers that died at the Kabul airport. I did some research. I found, on IG, that this woman is the [sister] of one of the men who was killed.”
He explained, “I offered to send her sister-in-law some $ as a tribute to her late brother, his widow and their child. Which I did. As a tribute to a fallen soldier,” before concluding, “Then I find this. Truth is stranger than fiction.”
As per documents obtained by Fox News Digital, though Roice was at Capitol Hill on the day of January 6th, she was there solely to protest Joe Biden’s vote certification and did not participate in the subsequent riots or any other unlawful activities.
“During the rioting, she was stuck in place outside the Capitol Building next to multiple police officers for hours after the rioting began due to the fact that so many people were around her and the area had been locked down,” the lawsuit states. “Later, a neighbor who was unhappy that Roice attended the demonstration turned her into the authorities.”
However, following an interview by the FBI, Roice was cleared of any wrongdoing.
The lawsuit further claims that Baldwin’s sharing of Roice’s photo prompted the actor’s followers to harass her with hateful, disturbing comments, with one of the most disturbing messages subtmitted to the court reading, “”Get raped and die, worthless c— [kiss emoji]. Your brother got what he deserved.”
“Baldwin’s conduct was negligent and reckless as he should have known that making the allegations he did against plaintiffs to his millions of followers would cause plaintiffs harm,” the document declares. “Baldwin’s comments were false, outrageous, defamatory, irresponsible, vindictive and caused – and continue to cause — plaintiffs severe emotional distress. Instead of being able to focus on grieving LCPL McCollum’s death and raising his newborn daughter, plaintiffs and their family are now fearful for their lives.”
Last November, a month after the Baldwin shot and killed director of photography Halyna Hutchins on the set of his film Rust, the project’s script supervisor, Mamie Mitchell, filed a lawsuit against him claiming that the actor “intentionally, without just cause or excuse, cocked and fired the loaded gun even though the upcoming scene to be filmed did not call for the cocking and firing of the firearm.”
A legal complaint was filed by Rust armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed last week.
Although this lawsuit was brought against the ammo supplier, it does place the blame on Baldwin for ignoring her request to attend a “cross-draw” session that could’ve prevented the tragic event that not only killed Hutchins but also injured the film’s director, Joel Souza.
“Had Hannah been called back in, she would have re-inspected the weapon, and every round again, and instructed Baldwin on safe gun practice with the cross draw, as was her standard practice on set and under circumstances where: (1) Baldwin did not respond to Hannah’s request on October 15 to schedule cross draw training and (2) the gun had been out of her possession for 15 minutes,” the document states.
What do you make of Baldwin being hit with a defamation lawsuit? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section down below or on social media.