Alec Baldwin is being sued by the family of a Marine killed at Kabul Airport in Afghanistan last year after publicly shaming his sister for attending the Capitol riot.
It is the third time the family of Rylee McCollum, the fallen soldier, has attempted to take action against the star. Previous attempts have been dismissed due to errors in the filing process.
In the most recent version of their lawsuit, Roice McCollum – Rylee’s 23-year-old sister – shares some of the online abuse she received after Baldwin put her on blast.
He had donated $5,000 to the family’s GoFundMe account months before learning she had attended the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, some eight months before her brother died.
In the comments section of a photo on Roice’s Instagram, Baldwin wrote: ‘Are you the same woman that I sent the $ to for your sister’s husband who was killed during the Afghanistan exit?’
Roice McCollum is suing Alec Baldwin for $25million. Last year, he shamed her on Instagram for attending the Capitol riot on January 6, and said he ‘didn’t know’ she was a ‘rioter’ when he gave her family $5,000 to help pay for her brother’s funeral
Rylee McCollum, 20, was one of the 13 US servicemembers killed in the terror attack on August 26 at Abbey Gate at Kabul Airport
She had posted a carousel of three photos taken the previous year when she attended the riot, none of which included her face. One showed a different woman wearing a MAGA hat.
He then started bombarding her with private Instagram messages, telling her to ‘own it’, and later posted her Instagram handle to his own 2.4million followers and told her: ‘Good luck.’
In their private messages, he told 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,’ he wrote to her.
She replied telling him that she committed no crime, and had already spoken with the FBI.
‘Protesting is perfectly legal in the country and I’ve already had my sit down with the FBI. Thanks, have a nice day!’ she said.
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.’
On January 3, 2022, Roice posted a series of images from the riot on January 6 which she took the previous year. She posted them on her Instagram page along with the caption ‘Throwback’. The photo above is not of her, but another woman present
Baldwin commented under her post, asking if she was the ‘same woman’ whose family he’d previously donated to
Publicly, Baldwin said it was ‘ironic’ that she was a rioter when her brother had died fighting for the country.
He then replied to her handle in the comments section of his own Instagram post, revealing her name to his 2.4million followers.
Roice was inundated with abuse from trolls, some of whom told her her brother – who was due to become a father when he died – deserved to be murdered.
Within 20 minutes of Baldwin’s post, Roice began to ‘get hostile, aggressive, hateful messages from his followers’, the lawsuit reads.
She posted one on her feed, which Baldwin said he found ‘abhorrent’, but she maintains that he knew what he was doing with his original post.
Roice McCollum posing with President Trump in another of her Instagram posts
Rylee had always wanted to serve in the military. The family were among the most vocal in their criticism of President Biden and the disastrous planning that led up to the Kabul Airport attack
The wife of Marine Corps Lance Rylee McCollum, Jiennah McCollum, is also suing Baldwin
She insists that while she attended the riot, she didn’t partake in any rioting and was just a protester.
‘He falsely accused Roice of destroying government property, causing the death of a law enforcement officer,’ the lawsuit says.
She is joined in her lawsuit by her brother’s widow.
The McCollum family was among the most vocal in their criticism of Joe Biden and the disastrous withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan that led to Rylee’s death and that of 12 other service members.
They were obliterated by an ISIS-K bomber while trying to secure the Abbey Gate at Kabul Airport on August 26, 2021, while tens of thousands of frantic Afghan refugees and international citizens tried to flee the country as the Taliban swept through.
The Marines had been trying to secure Abbey Gate at Kabul Airport during the disastrous evacuation of US troops from Afghanistan when they were killed last August
Flag-draped caskets with the bodies of the 13 US fallen troops line the inside of a C-17 Globemaster II August 29, prior to a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base
In their lawsuit, the Marine’s sister and widow point to the fact that Baldwin’s fans are predominantly Democratic and hateful of President Trump – who they support.
They say Baldwin fanned the flames of the political differences between the two camps with his Instagram remarks.
The family is seeking $25million in damages from the actor.
When the case was originally filed, it was dismissed because it was filed in an area where the judge didn’t have jurisdiction. The judge however told the family they may have a hard time winning their case because Baldwin could argue his comments were his opinion.
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