In Third Lawsuit, Covington Student Seeks $275 Million From NBC Universal

Nick Sandmann
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

The Covington Catholic High School student who clashed with a Native American protester at a pro-life rally in Washington, D.C. in January sued another news outlet for defamation on Wednesday, according to his lawyer.

Nick Sandmann and his family filed a $275 million lawsuit against NBC Universal, alleging that it defamed Sandmann in its coverage of the protest by “relying heavily on biased and unreliable sources without conducting any reasonable investigation of the circumstances.” Sandmann has filed two other multi-million dollar lawsuits against news outlets over their coverage of the clash– one against the Washington Post for $250 million and another against CNN for $275 million.

According to the complaint, Sandmann and his parents allege that NBC Universal attacked the high schooler in “at least 15 defamatory television broadcasts, six defamatory online articles, and many tweets falsely accusing Nicholas and his Covington Catholic High School (‘CovCath’) classmates of racists acts.” The CNN lawsuit also accuses the network of falsely accusing Sandmann of racist acts.

Clad in Make America Great Again hats, Sandmann and his classmates were filmed at a protest at the National Mall, where there was a clash of activists from various groups, including Native Americans and Black Hebrew Israelite protesters. In footage of the encounter, Sandmann is the student who was seen smirking and staring inches away from Native American Nathan Phillips’s face while he performed a song. Sandmann and the other students were criticized for their behavior, which appeared to be mocking Phillips and other activists.

Covington High School conducted its own investigation of the incident and concluded the students were not to blame. Sandmann maintains that the Black Hebrew Israelites instigated the tension, which the group denies, and he and his classmates were just trying to drown them out.

Trump has cheered Sandmann and his family for the lawsuits, tweeting after the family filed the suit against the Post to “Go get them Nick.”

Read Sandmann’s third defamation suit below:

Latest News
81
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. This will end badly for Nick Sandman, and his parents aren’t helping, they’re hurting their son.

  2. Wonder how much FOX will have to pay if liberals sue it the way these Trumpsters did?

  3. They would just bemoan the litigious society in which we live and press for their favorite remedy–‘tort reform.’

  4. Somebody’s parents are seeing visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads.

    The kid is going to ultimately pay for this…in ways he and his parents cannot envision.

  5. Indeed. He might well have been completely forgotten, and the rest of his life would have played out as if the confrontation had never happened. But no. His college prospects are now looking a lot more dim, unless he’s got his sights set on Liberty University, and his future job prospects are taking a hit, unless he’s shooting for a position with FoxNews.

    None of that would matter, of course, if he was headed for a multi-million dollar payout. But I don’t think I’d bet my future on that.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

75 more replies

Participants

Avatar for pluckyinky Avatar for sysprog Avatar for imkmu3 Avatar for rollinnolan Avatar for dont Avatar for bonvivant Avatar for lastroth Avatar for gr Avatar for martinstett Avatar for tom_streeter Avatar for benthere Avatar for henk Avatar for misterneutron Avatar for lizzymom Avatar for dannydorko Avatar for katscherger Avatar for j_publicus Avatar for kelaine Avatar for dchoubak Avatar for progressiveandsane Avatar for rascal_crone Avatar for haddockbranzini Avatar for rieur Avatar for faydout

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: