CNN settled a lawsuit with Covington Catholic High School student Nick Sandmann, who was the subject of a year-old viral video.
The amount of the settlement remains unknown, but a CNN representative confirmed the suit’s resolution to the Washington Examiner.
A video from last January went viral, and it appeared to show Sandmann and his classmates taunting a Native American man.
Many outlets reported that they were the instigators in the conflict, but it turned out only to distort the actual events that unfolded.
The longer video revealed that the students had seemingly been harassed by a group of Black Hebrew Israelite protesters, which had not been seen in the original viral clip.
The suit, which was filed last March, addressed four television broadcasts and nine articles specifically, alleging that they contain statements toward or about Sandmann that are defamatory.
It sought $75 million for harm to Sandmann’s reputation and $200 million in punitive damages.
“The CNN accusations are totally and unequivocally false and CNN would have known them to be untrue had it undertaken any reasonable efforts to verify their accuracy before publication of its false and defamatory accusations,” the suit read.
“Sandmann’s attorney, Lin Wood, told Fox News’s Mark Levin last year that CNN “was probably more vicious in its direct attacks on Nicholas than the Washington Post.
“And CNN goes into millions of individuals’ homes,” adding that the network “couldn’t resist the idea that here’s a guy with a young boy, that Make America Great Again cap on. So they go after him.”
Sandmann has filed similar lawsuits against NBC Universal and the Washington Post.
UPDATE: Sandmann confirmed on Twitter that the two parties had reached a settlement agreement.
Yes, We settled with CNN.
— Nicholas Sandmann (@N1ckSandmann) January 7, 2020
https://youtu.be/CUBJITgV5KM
Reference: USApoliticstoday.org
