Nicholas Sandmann, the Covington Catholic teen featured in the viral video and news coverage last year at the Lincoln Memorial, is now suing the New York Times, CBS News, ABC News, Rolling Stone and Gannett over their reporting on him.
Sandmann is suing
- for $35 million over Rolling Stone‘s Jan. 22, 2019 article,
- for $95 million over four ABC News articles “Viral Video of Catholic School Teens in ‘MAGA’ Caps Taunting Native Americans Draws Widespread Condemnation; Prompts School Investigation,” “Teen Accused of Taunting Native American Protestors in Viral Video Says He’s Receiving Death Threats,” “Videos Show Fuller Picture of DC Clash Between High School Students, Native Americans,” “Students in ‘MAGA’ Hats Taunt Indigenous Elder, Demonstrators in Washington: VIDEO”
- for $65 million over a New York Times article, “Boys in ‘Make America Great Again’ Hats Mob Native Elder at Indigenous Peoples March”
- for $60 million for an interview and online article, “National Mall Confrontation Goes Viral” and “Native American Veteran in Viral Video of Confrontation peaks Out”
- and for $195 million over Gannett’s publications: the Cincinnati Enquirer‘s two print and three online articles “Video being analyzed from incident in Washington, DC,” “‘I Still haev forgiveness in my heart,'” “School faces backlash after teens mob Native American veteran from Michigan at march,” “Analysis: What the video from the incident at the Indigenous Peoples March tells us about what happened,” “Nathan Phillips on ‘Today’ show: ‘I still have forgiveness in my heart.'” The Detroit Free Press‘s “Phillips on ‘Today’ show: Student seemed insincere,”and “Nathan Phillips on ‘Today’ show: Students explanation felt insincere.” The Louisville Courier-Journal‘s online article “Stormy Daniels calls out ‘disgusting punks’ from Covington Catholic.” The Tennessean‘s online article “Covington school kids intimidated Native Americans. Who taught them this?” and various Gannett tweets
New York Times spokesperson Danielle Rhoades Ha told iMediaEthics by e-mail, “We’re confident that our coverage was balanced and cautious, and we intend to defend against the claim vigorously.”
An ABC News spokesperson told iMediaEthics “We have not been served with a complaint, so have no comment at this time.”
iMediaEhics has written to all the parties.
Sandmann previously filed lawsuits against the Washington Post, CNN, and NBC News. CNN settled Sandmann’s lawsuit earlier this year; the other lawsuits are ongoing. The lawsuits were all filed in Kentucky Eastern District Court.