After Alec Baldwin fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchin on the set of his new movie, many thought it would be a good idea for him to resist the urge to be a constant presence on social media, sharing his opinions about life, politics, the shooting and everything else.
Unfortunately, the famously combative Baldwin couldn’t stay off social media, and now he’s being sued in federal court by the widow and sisters of a Wyoming marine killed in Afghanistan. They allege that he defamed them on Instagram after he learned that one of the sisters attended Donald Trump’s “Save America” rally on Jan. 6, 2021, which preceded the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Earlier this month, Baldwin accused Roice McCollum, the sister of Rylee McCollum, a 20-year-old Marine killed at the Kabul airport in August, of being an “insurrectionist” who participated in the Jan. 6 riots, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Wyoming.
Baldwin made the accusation on Instagram, where he has 2.4 million followers, the lawsuit said. Roice McCollum has said that she attended Trump’s rally but denies that she participated in the deadly riot at the Capitol and says she was interviewed and cleared by the FBI.
Because of Baldwin’s “false” public accusation, Roice McCollum, her sister, Cheyenne McCollum, and Jiennah Crayton, the widow Rylee McCollum, said they became the target of “hateful messages and even death threats” from the actor’s followers.
According to the Casper Star Tribune, the family’s attorney, Dennis Postiglione, said there are are “600, 700 more pages worth of posts” not included in the initial filing which make the comments cited in the lawsuit seem “tame.”
Whatever the merits of the McCollum’s lawsuit, which seeks $25 million in damages, the liberal actor’s alleged defamation of Rylee McCollum’s family have given his right-wing critics another reason to go after him.
The case also appears to be the direct result of Baldwin’s inability to stay silent or to stay away from conflict, even when he is under criminal investigation in Hutchins’ Oct. 21 death and has been named as a defendant in two lawsuits regarding his actions surrounding the shooting on the New Mexico set of “Rust.”
This new lawsuit by the McCollum family points out that Baldwin, a celebrity since the 1980s, should be well-aware of his ability to sway public opinion. Baldwin furthermore is “no stranger to legal troubles or social media hatred and bullying.” The lawsuit discusses Baldwin’s Boston-born influencer wife, Hilaria Baldwin, who has become the ongoing subject of critical entertainment reports, gossip and “heavy” social media trolling after it was revealed that she faked a Spanish accent and an identity as a half-Spanish immigrant for more than 10 years.
Baldwin’s interaction with the McCollum family started out with good intentions, according to the lawsuit. He wanted to do something to help the widow and baby of Rylee McCollum, who was killed on Aug. 26 when a suicide bomber attacked his unit while he was processing Afghanistan refugees at the Kabul airport.
After learning about McCollum’s death, Baldwin found Roice McCollum on Instagram, the lawsuit said. She had started a GoFundMe account on behalf of Jiennah Crayton and her baby, who was born a few weeks after McCollum’s death. He sent a $5,000 check for Jiennah Crayton and her child as “a tribute to fallen soldier,” as he said.
Baldwin’s “seemingly benevolent overtures turned into a nightmare for the McCollum family” when Baldwin went “on an Instagram rant” after learning that Roice McCollum had been in Washington D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021.
Roice McCollum shared that information on Instagram Jan. 1 when posted a photo showing a crowd of pro-Trump demonstrators at the Washington Monument. She shared the photo “in anticipation” of the “one-year anniversary” of Trump’s rally. The lawsuit indicates that Roice McCollum believes Trump’s false claims of election fraud in his loss to Joe Biden.
According to the lawsuit, Baldwin commented on Roice McCollum’s post by asking, “Are you the same woman that I sent the $ to for your sister’s husband who was killed during the Afghanistan exit?”
After Roice McCollum confirmed that she was Jiennah Crayton’s sister-in-law, Baldwin privately messaged her, accusing her of being an “insurrectionist” and telling her to “own it.” He wrote, “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 McCollum responded that “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.”
He then said, “I reposted your photo. Good luck.”
Indeed, Baldwin wrote a lengthy post on Instagram, decrying the attack on the Capitol and claims that it was a peaceful “protest” and an “exercise in democracy.”
“That’s bull—-,” he said.
Baldwin also described his contact with Roice McCollum, and how he sent money as a “tribute to her late brother, his widow and their child.” He then shared McCollum’s photos from Washington, along with his comments that alleged she was an “insurrectionist” and “rioter,” the lawsuit said. Baldwin said he would remove his post the next day, and it’s no longer visible on his Instagram, according to the Casper Star Tribune.
Within 20 minutes of Baldwin’s post, Roice McCollum said she began to receive hostile, aggressive and hateful messages from Baldwin’s followers, the lawsuit said. One message, embellished with a heart emoji, said: “Get raped and die, worthless (expletive). Your brother got what he deserved.”
Cheyenne McCollum and Jiennah Crayton also began to receive hateful messages and death threats, the lawsuit said. Baldwin allegedly continued to engage with his followers after writing his post, justifying it by saying that Roice McCollum was an “insurrectionist,” the lawsuit said.
“In doing so, (the McCollum family) are informed and believe and allege that he fueled the firestorm of hatred that he started,” the lawsuit said.
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