Alec Baldwin Facing Huge Lawsuit From Fallen Soldier’s Family
Alec Baldwin is getting sued for allegedly defaming a veteran's family!
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As much as Alec Baldwin potentially still has a lot to worry about concerning the tragic shooting on the set of Rust, that seems to only be the beginning of his legal troubles. News emerged on Thursday that Baldwin is facing a new lawsuit from the family of a fallen veteran. This time, it’s the actor’s alleged social media behavior that might be dragged into the courtroom.
The news of the lawsuit comes from People, who says they have obtained court documents which show Alec Baldwin is being sued for defamation by Roice McCollum, Cheyenne McCollum, and widow Jiennah Crayton. Crayton’s husband — Rylee McCollum — was killed in a bombing in Afghanistan on August 26 of last year while US troops were attempting to process evacuees out of the country during the Taliban’s takeover. People says the family is demanding a jury trial and allege in the documents that Baldwin made statements on social media about them that were “false, outrageous, defamatory, irresponsible, vindictive.” They also claim they have received death threats as well as other “hostile, aggressive, hateful” messages because of Baldwin alleged social media posts.
In the documents obtained by People, Rylee McCollum’s sister Roice claims sometime after the news of her brother’s death emerged, Alec Baldwin found her on Instagram and sent her a $5,000 donation meant for Crayton and her baby who was born a month after her husband’s death. Baldwin allegedly contacted her again earlier in January 2022 after Roice posted a series of photos of herself participating in demonstrations in Washington D.C. the same day as the Capitol Riots. Roice alleges that Baldwin sent her private Instagram DMs calling her an “insurrectionist” and a “Jan. 6 rioter.” While the post has since been deleted, Baldwin then allegedly reposted Roice’s photos to his own Instagram account and allegedly sent Roice the message, “I reposted your photos. Good luck.” She also claimed he captioned the repost with, “Are you the same woman that I sent the $ to for your sister’s husband who was killed during the Afghanistan exit.”
People says the court documents show that sisters Roice and Cheyenne McCollum, as well as Rylee McCollum’s widow Jiennah Crayton, all claim to have been harassed online since Baldwin’s alleged reposting, including receiving death threats. The three claim to have suffered “severe emotional distress” in the wake of Baldwin’s alleged posts. According to the documents, neither Cheyenne McCollum nor Cratyton were even in Washington D.C. on Jan. 6. Meanwhile, Roice McCollum says that while she did attend a protest on Jan. 6, that she did not participate in the rioting and that she was interviewed and cleared by the FBI.
It looks like Alec Baldwin will be spending a lot of time talking to lawyers for a while. Along with the lawsuit from the family of Rylee McCollum, Alec Baldwin is still contending with two lawsuits over the shooting and death of Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust. Gaffer Serge Svetnoy filed suit against Baldwin, Rust producers, the First AD, and Armorer, alleging “General Negligence.” Script supervisor Mamie Mitchell filed a similar lawsuit the following week.
