One week after a federal judge dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed by Nicholas Sandmann against The Washington Post, eight unidentified Covington High School students filed a defamation suit against 12 public figures, including journalists and news media figures like CNN commentator Ana Navarro, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman and more.
In the suit, filed in Kentucky’s Kenton County Circuit Court, attorneys Robert Barnes and Kevin Murphy explained the decision to turn to litigation after students on a field trip to Washington, D.C., were widely criticized for their interaction with a Native American protester in January.
“Several of our Senators, most-famous celebrities, and widely read journalists, collectively used their large social media platforms, perceived higher credibility and public followings to lie and libel minors they never met, based on an event they never witnessed. These defendants called for the kids to be named and shamed, doxxed and expelled, and invited public retaliation against these minors from a small town in Kentucky,” they wrote.
They continued, “The defendants circulated false statements about them to millions of people around the world. The video of the entire event, known to the defendants, exposed all of their factual claims against the kids as lies. The defendants were each individually offered the opportunity to correct, delete, and/or apologize for their false statements, but each refused, continuing to circulate the false statements about these children to this very day on their social media platforms they personally control.”
The 12 figures named in the suit are these:
Sen. Elizabeth Warren
Rep. Deb Haaland
Ana Navarro of CNN
Maggie Haberman of the New York Times
Kathy Griffin
Matthew Dowd of ABC News
Reza Aslan
Adam Edelen
Kevin M. Kruse
Shaun King
Clara Jeffery of Mother Jones
Jodi Jacobson of Rewire.News
Aslan and King are also published journalists. Over half of the defendants are affiliated with the news media.
A representative for Rewire, where Jacobson serves as editor-in-chief, declined to comment. A representative for the New York Times told TheWrap, “Ms. Haberman has not yet been served with this complaint. The lawsuit is entirely without merit and we will vigorously defend it if necessary.”
Other defendants did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Shortly after the January incident went viral, journalist Erik Abriss publicly wished for the death of several Covington students and their parents. He was fired. Other media figures issued retractions or corrections for their statements on the incident in January.
As noted by Law&Crime on January 21, CNN’s S.E. Cupp tweeted, “Hey guys. Seeing all the additional videos now, and I 100% regret reacting too quickly to the Covington story. I wish I’d had the fuller picture before weighing in, and I’m truly sorry.”
Attorney Robert Barnes quoted the tweet, writing on Jan. 21, “Good apology. More needed. Don’t want to get sued? Retract, correct. Do it now.”
Passions ran high on social media when the video first emerged, showing several students from Covington, many of whom were wearing “Make America Great Again” hats, surrounding a Native American elder who was in Washington, D.C., for the Indigenous Peoples’ March. Many viewers believed the teens were attempting to taunt the elder, Nathan Phillips.
Later, additional video was released showing that Phillips had walked up to the teenagers. He said he was trying to defuse a confrontation between them and another group. One of the teens, Nick Sandmann, issued a statement saying he had not sought the confrontation and bore no ill will to Phillips. By that time, the Covington students had become the target of scorn online.
Barnes told Law&Crime each defendant was given the chance to retract or correct their previous statements about the incident. He did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
All 10 'Fast & Furious' Movies Ranked From Worst to Best (Photos)
“The Fast and the Furious” is a franchise it’s easy to dismiss as big, silly, or even bad -- but that’s because it’s not good, it’s awesome. The distinction may seem nebulous, but measuring each film’s success or failure has less to do with whether or not you believe what’s happening on screen than whether what’s happening has just suitably blown your mind, scrambled your expectations, or shown you something so preposterous that you have to admire it. Ironically, the series began as a more mundane version of Kathryn Bigelow’s thriller about surfing bank robbers, “Point Break,” but over the course of nine installments, “The Fast and the Furious” has grown so far beyond the parameters of what in 1991 already seemed ridiculous that it’s impossible to evaluate them on a scale of anything from zero to 60 -- the former number being the resting vibration of Vin Diesel’s throaty baritone, and the latter the circumference of Dwayne Johnson’s biceps.
10. "Fast & Furious" (2009)
When 2006's “Tokyo Drift” convinced Universal it was sitting on a largely untapped goldmine, the studio re-hired director Justin Lin and reunited the original series cast for a proper relaunch. Unfortunately, virtually every new decision feels like an “ah, f--- it” solution to problems that subsequent films treated with much more nuance, especially reconnecting Brian, Dominic and the rest of Toretto’s outlaw crew. Meanwhile, an overlong finale set entirely in a cheap, phony-looking, CGI-enhanced underground tunnel robs the film of the tangibility -- and vitality -- that made Lin’s first “Fast and Furious” effort such a visceral delight.
Universal Pictures
9. "The Fate of the Furious" (2017)
Bursting with cash but on the verge of bankruptcy for new ideas, F. Gary Gray mounted a handsome, appropriately operatic eighth installment featuring a couple of prestigious foes (Charlize Theron and Helen Mirren) but arguably the dumbest heel turn in modern movie history. No character has ever championed loyalty more emphatically than Dominic Toretto, so when he gets blackmailed into betraying his former friends and colleagues, every second feels more preposterous than the previous one. It features the silliest car action of the series -- though, to be fair, Dwayne Johnson does punch a torpedo. “Fate” also betrays the series’ central "family" theme by making an ally of Jason Statham's Shaw, who murdered a crew member in a previous film, without ever bothering to address the issue.
Universal Pictures
8. “F9” (2021)
Director Justin Lin reclaims control of the franchise after two installments away and a spinoff, quadrupling down on its single-minded theme of family by exploring Dom’s (supposedly) biological one, which somehow includes a brother named Jakob (John Cena), who teams up with Cipher (Charlize Theron) to exact revenge for an adolescent conflict that, like most of the ones in the franchise, could have been resolved with a two-minute conversation. After nine films, the stakes are higher and more ridiculous than ever, but Lin (and especially Vin Diesel) take them increasingly seriously, prompting the wrong kind of laughter from a movie that actually delivers on the promise of sending this group of street racers–turned–international super-spies to space. By the end, audiences are unsure what’s exhausted them more, the one-upmanship of the explosive, overlong set pieces or the absurd retconning of the series’ already convoluted history (even if it does mean the return of Han, the best character it ever created); ultimately, you probably shouldn’t be complaining if you actively chose to watch the ninth “The Fast and the Furious" movie, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty here to criticize.
Giles Keyte/Universal
7. "The Fast and the Furious" (2001)
A transparent knockoff of “Point Break” set in the world of illegal street racing, Rob Cohen’s slick, comparatively realistic original couldn’t possibly have foreseen the wild and improbable places this franchise eventually went. But Cohen lacks Kathryn Bigelow’s chops both as a filmmaker and storyteller, using instantly dated CGI to “amplify” the intensity of the car-related action while reducing the cat-and-mouse dynamic between undercover cop Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) and enigmatic hijacker Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) to unconvincing macho posturing.
Universal Pictures
6. "Furious 7" (2015)
In a giant retcon of “Tokyo Drift” -- including the franchise’s most contentious piece of mythology, the death of Han (Sung Kang) -- James Wan mounts some suitably ridiculous action, including airdropping sports cars over Azerbaijan and jumping a Lamborghini from one Abu Dhabi skyscraper to another, while expanding the series’ rogues gallery with Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw, sibling to a former adversary who later, and to much controversy, becomes a colleague. Through no fault of the filmmakers, Paul Walker’s death casts a bittersweet pall over the onscreen adventures, as Brian’s departure inadvertently underscores the series’ shift away from the core elements that initially made it popular, much less the original cast members who were overshadowed by the likes of Statham and Dwayne Johnson.
Universal Pictures
5. "2 Fast 2 Furious" (2003)
John Singleton reportedly campaigned for directing duties on this film after being inspired by “The Fast and the Furious,” and it shows: Relocating to Miami and drenching its candy-coated cars in neon, he stages the races and chases with a skilled juxtaposition of Sergio Leone–style closeups and wide shots showing the action as it’s actually happening. With Diesel off trying to launch a different franchise, Walker gets partnered with Singleton’s “Baby Boy” star Tyrese for a more dynamic and interesting bromance than last time, especially given the model-turned-actor’s gift for balancing sexy, often shirtless cool and a willingness to be the butt of the joke. When the cars aren’t weaving through traffic on Florida’s I-95 freeway, Walker showcases an appealing stillness and authority, as Eva Mendes steps in both as a vague love interest and an in-too-deep colleague to protect from the cartoon menace of Cole Hauser’s Argentinian drug lord Carter Verone.
Universal Pictures
4. "Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw" (2019)
Proving indisputably that this series does not need Vin Diesel, “Hobbs & Shaw” charms immediately by embracing the two leads’ oil-and-water buddy dynamic with their charisma working overtime in a story with its tongue firmly in its cheek. In possibly the best action movie that Michael Bay never made -- if only because Bay would never make fun of himself -- director David Leitch mounts one muscular, inventive action scene after another, supplies his musclebound leads with a truly formidable female counterpart in Vanessa Kirby’s Hattie Shaw and harnesses Idris Elba’s smoldering screen presence as some kind of human Transformer. All the while, he explores the franchise’s fixation on family ties with funny, surprisingly effective humanity.
Emboldened by the creative and commercial success of “Fast Five,” Lin and Morgan go bigger and broader with the next film, giving Michelle Rodriguez’ Letty -- previously presumed dead -- amnesia, and establishing a highly improbable plot where shadowy government organizations hire a team of scruffy, car-obsessed outlaws to investigate and apprehend notorious thieves and terrorists, often in exchange for amnesty or forgiveness of criminal wrongdoing. Some great vehicular action bolsters this installment -- especially when Letty drives a tank! -- but it’s the series’ increasingly convoluted improbabilities that keep this film just below its top-ranking entries.
Universal Pictures
2. "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" (2006)
Without the participation of the franchise’s two main stars, Justin Lin’s first contribution to the franchise not only piggybacked on the glossy energy of its two predecessors, but thoughtfully engaged more sophisticated ideas about street racing and car culture, especially after relocating to Japan. Lin inadvertently razed the chronology of the franchise in one fell swoop -- a choice whose reverberations are still being felt -- but he also codified a lot of the core franchise elements going forward, not just in terms of cars, crime and thrills, but emphasizing a multiethnic cast and taking the action to wherever in the world it can be most interestingly explored.
Universal Pictures
1. "Fast Five" (2011)
Virtually abandoning the street-racing pretext of the previous films for a slightly more generic, four-quadrant-friendly focus on international intrigues, Lin levels up big time the best film in the series. Adding “franchise Viagra” Dwayne Johnson helps supercharge the franchise’s beefcake quotient, but longtime “Fast and Furious” screenwriter Chris Morgan settles into a comfortable groove with human moments that bounce nicely off soapy melodramas while still delivering testosterone-fueled action driven either by an ambition to execute sequences practically or the overdue financial resources to make them look that way.
Universal Pictures
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Where does ”F9“ stand in the global-hit automotive action franchise?
“The Fast and the Furious” is a franchise it’s easy to dismiss as big, silly, or even bad -- but that’s because it’s not good, it’s awesome. The distinction may seem nebulous, but measuring each film’s success or failure has less to do with whether or not you believe what’s happening on screen than whether what’s happening has just suitably blown your mind, scrambled your expectations, or shown you something so preposterous that you have to admire it. Ironically, the series began as a more mundane version of Kathryn Bigelow’s thriller about surfing bank robbers, “Point Break,” but over the course of nine installments, “The Fast and the Furious” has grown so far beyond the parameters of what in 1991 already seemed ridiculous that it’s impossible to evaluate them on a scale of anything from zero to 60 -- the former number being the resting vibration of Vin Diesel’s throaty baritone, and the latter the circumference of Dwayne Johnson’s biceps.
Universal Pictures
