DeRay McKesso is suing Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, claiming she defamed him while discussing a lawsuit against Black Lives Matter that was dismissed
A civil rights activist is suing Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, claiming she defamed him while discussing a lawsuit against the Black Lives Matter movement that was later dismissed.
The lawsuit says activist DeRay McKesson he was falsely arrested while attending a protest in July 2016 in which a police officer was struck in the face with a rock.
The officer sued the Black Lives Matter movement and McKesson.
Jeanine Pirro, currently the host of Fox News’s ‘Justice with Judge Jeanine’, appeared on Fox & Friends in September and alleged that McKesson, a black man, ‘directed’ violence against a police officer, with the support of a federal judge, also a black man, appointed by President Obama.
After the officer’s lawsuit was dismissed, Pirro ‘made a series of outrageously false and defamatory statements about Mr. McKesson, including that he directed someone to hit the police officer in the face with a rock,’ McKesson’s lawsuit said.
The suit says the statements were extremely dangerous and continue to endanger McKesson.
The complaint says the statements made by Pirro ‘are false, and were either known to be false by Defendant Pirro or were made with reckless disregard for whether they were true,’ according to the Baltimore Sun.
In September Jeanine Pirro appeared on Fox & Friends, an opinion show on Fox News, and alleged that McKesson, a black man, ‘directed’ violence against a police officer, with the support of a federal judge, also a black man, appointed by former President Obama
Officers arrest McKesson in July 2016 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. An officer claimed he was injured during the protest
The complaint said the statements have damaged McKesson’s reputation and endangered his safety, and requests an unspecified amount in damages, the Sun reports.
Fox News says Pirro’s statements are protected speech.
The suit, which also names Fox News Network, was filed in New York on Tuesday.
Pirro’s statements on September 29 discussed the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by an unnamed police officer after protests in Baton Rouge in response to the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling, a black man, by a white police officer.
The complaint said the statements have damaged McKesson’s reputation and endangered his safety, and requests an unspecified amount in damages. Pictured with Beyonce
Pirro’s statements on September 29 discussed the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by an unnamed police officer after protests in Baton Rouge in response to the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling (pictured), a black man, by a white police officer
After the segment aired, McKesson wrote a letter to the network requesting a retraction. The complaint says the network refused and that Pirro did not respond to the letter.
‘The problem is when you have federal judges who make decisions on politics — activist judges — not on the facts,’ Pirro said on the segment.
‘You’ve got a police officer who was injured, he was injured at the direction of DeRay Mckesson, DeRay Mckesson walks away with a hundred thousand dollars, for an organization that is amorphous, we got a problem in this country,’ she said.
Pirro was referencing a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of 185 arrested during the protest. A judge ruled in favor Mckesson and the protesters and said they were eligible for payments ranging from $500 to $1,000.