Alec Baldwin Faces $25 Million Defamation Lawsuit by Family of Marine Killed in Afghanistan

Alec Baldwin has another lawsuit on his hands.

According to the Casper Star Tribune, the embattled actor is being sued by the family of Rylee McCollum, a 20-year-old Marine from Wyoming who died Aug. 26 in Afghanistan. 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.”

However, the lawsuit states 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 6^th rioter,” he allegedly wrote to Roice in a direct message. “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.”

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.

The family claims they received a slew of hateful and threatening comments just minutes after Baldwin’s post and the actor did nothing to discourage the aggressive reactions. 

“I think it’s worth noting, too, that his social media following … is five times the population of your state,” said Dennis Postiglione, the attorney representing McCollum’s family. “Either he knew what would happen, and he wanted it to happen, or he just didn’t think about it.”

The plaintiffs—Roice, Cheyenne, and Crayton—are seeking at least $25 million in damages for defamation, invasion of privacy, negligence, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Baldwin has yet to publicly comment on the suit.

The filing comes as the actor was sued over the death of Halyna Hutchins, a cinematographer who was killed on the set of Baldwin’s Rust film. On Oct. 21, 2001, Baldwin discharged a prop gun and fatally wounded Hutchins. He has denied responsibility for the incident.