Family of Marine killed in Afghanistan withdrawal files $25 million defamation suit against Alec Baldwin in federal court

The family of Marine Lance Corporal Rylee J. McCollum, who was one of 13 Marines killed by a suicide bomber outside of the Hamid Karzai International Airport on Aug. 26, 2021, filed a federal suit for at least $25 million in the Southern District of New York on Friday, according to the New York Post.

After McCollum’s death at the age of 20, Baldwin located his sister Roice using Instagram and sent her a check for $5,000 for the fallen Marine’s widow, Jiennah, and her newborn baby as a "tribute to a fallen soldier."

However, in January 2022, according to the New York Post, Baldwin got into an online war of words with Roice after she posted a photo of herself attending a protest near the Washington Monument on Jan. 6, 2021, before the one-year anniversary of the riot at the US Capitol. Baldwin accused her of participating in the riot and called her an "insurrectionist."

Baldwin wrote on Roice’s Instagram post, "Are you the same woman I sent the $ for your sister’s husband who was killed during the Afghanistan exit?"

According to the suit, he also allegedly sent her a direct message which read, "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."

Roice responded, "Protesting is perfectly legal in the country and I’ve already had my sit down with the FBI. Thanks, have a nice day!"

Baldwin 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 the complaint, the actor reposted Roice’s photo to his Instagram account, which has 2.4 million followers and mentioned her involvement in the Jan. 6 protest, and falsely labeled Jiennah, McCollum’s widow, as an insurrectionist in an Instagram comment, even though she wasn’t in DC that day.

The suit alleges that within 20 minutes of reposting the photo Roice received "hostile, aggressive, hateful messages" from Baldwin’s fans and that together with Jiennah and her sister Cheyenne, they received messages from Instagram users comparing them to Nazis and accusing them of being white supremacists.

The family claims in the suit that Baldwin did nothing to stop his millions of followers saying, "Baldwin’s conduct was negligent and reckless as he should have known that making the allegations he did against Plaintiffs to his millions of followers would cause Plaintiffs harm."

In January, the family filed a similar lawsuit against Baldwin in Wyoming, where Roice and Cheyenne reside. However, the suit was dismissed after a Wyoming judge said she had no jurisdiction over Baldwin, who lives in New York.

The family is seeking at least $25 million in damages for alleged invasion of privacy, defamation negligence, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.