Alec Baldwin is facing new legal issues.
According to the Casper Star Tribune, the actor has been sued by the family of Rylee McCollum, a 20-year-old soldier from Wyoming who died Aug. 26 in Afghanistan.
Complex adds: “McCollum was among 13 American service members who were killed in a suicide bombing at a Kabul airport, where the U.S. troops assisted flight evacuations ahead of the military’s complete withdrawal from Afghanistan. After receiving word about the tragedy, Baldwin reportedly reached out to McCollum’s sister Roice McCollum via Instagram. The 63-year-old actor expressed his condolences and gave Roice a $5,000 check that was for McCollum’s widow, Jiennah Crayton, and their newborn child. Baldwin reportedly called the donation “a tribute to a fallen soldier.””
But then in the lawsuit, the family claimed that Baldwin defamed McCollum’s family earlier this month, after Roice posted a throwback photo of herself at the Washington Monument on Jan. 6, 2021—the same day a mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. Baldwin then blasted Roice over the picture, and accused of her participating in the riots.
“Are you the same woman I sent the $ for your sister’s husband who was killed during the Afghanistan exit?” Baldwin commented on the post, according the complaint.
“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,” he is said to have written in a message to Roice. “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.”
Complex adds: The lawsuit states Baldwin reposted Roice’s photo to his personal Instagram and referenced her alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 riot. The suit also alleges Baldwin misidentified Crayton as an “insurrectionist” to his 2.4-plus million followers. Crayton and McCollum’s other sister, Cheyenne, were reportedly not in D.C. at the time of the Capitol attack. Roice states she was in the city for a demonstration in support of Trump, but was not involved in the riots. The suit states the FBI has since cleared Roice of any wrongdoing.”
We can’t wait to see how this pans out.