Alec Baldwin sued a THIRD time by slain Marine Rylee McCollum's kin after star 'defamed' his sister over Jan 6 riot
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Slain Marine Rylee McCollum's family is suing Alec Baldwin again for defaming his sister for participating in the Capitol riot. This is the third time the soldier's family has sued the star. Previous attempts were rejected because of filing-process mistakes. The new defamation lawsuit was filed on Friday, August 26, in a federal court in New York.
Roice, McCollum's 23-year-old sister, shared some of the online abuse she received after Baldwin criticized her in the most recent version of their lawsuit. He had given $5,000 to the family's GoFundMe account months earlier, before being made aware that she had participated in the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, about eight months before her brother died.
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Baldwin wrote in the comments section of a photo on Roice's Instagram, "Are you the same woman that I sent the $ to for your sister's husband who was killed during the Afghanistan exit?" She had published a carousel Instagram post of three images from the riot she had attended the year before, none of which showed her face. One featured a different woman sporting a MAGA hat.
After telling her to "own it" in private Instagram messages, Baldwin later posted her account's URL to his own 2.4 million followers and wished her "Good luck." "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," he wrote to her in their private messages.
Roice responded by informing him that she had already spoken to the FBI and had committed no crimes. She wrote, "Protesting is perfectly legal in the country and I’ve already had my sit down with the FBI. Thanks, have a nice day!" Baldwin, 64, 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."
According to Baldwin, she was a rioter while her brother was killed fighting for the nation. His 2.4 million Instagram followers learned her identity when he later replied to her handle in the post's comments section. Several of the trolls who harassed Roice claimed her brother, who was about to become a father when he passed away, deserved being killed.
According to the lawsuit, after Baldwin's post went live, Roice started receiving "hostile, aggressive, and hateful messages from his followers" in less than 20 minutes. In spite of Baldwin calling one of her posts on her feed "abhorrent," she stands by the fact that he knew what he was doing when he made the original one. He erroneously claimed that Roice had destroyed government property and killed a law enforcement officer, the lawsuit claims. McCollum's wife joined her in the lawsuit.
The McCollum family was one of the loudest in denouncing Joe Biden and the disastrous troop withdrawal from Afghanistan that resulted in the deaths of McCollum and 12 other service members. On August 26, 2021, as the Taliban swept through, thousands of frightened Afghan refugees and foreigners attempted to flee the country. They were destroyed by an ISIS-K bomber as they attempted to secure the Abbey Gate at Kabul Airport.
The marine's sister and widow, both former President Trump supporters, claim in their lawsuit that many of Baldwin's supporters are Democrats who despise Trump. They contend that Baldwin's comments on Instagram fanned the flames of political friction between the two camps. The family is suing the actor for $25 million in damages.
As it was filed in an area over which the judge had no jurisdiction, the case was initially dismissed. However, the judge warned the family that their case might not succeed because Baldwin might claim that his remarks were his opinion.