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Family of US Marine killed in Afghanistan files $25 million lawsuit against Alec Baldwin, claiming the actor accused them of being insurrectionists on Instagram

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Natalie Musumeci
·3 min read

  • The family of a Marine who was killed in Afghanistan filed a defamation suit against Alec Baldwin.

  • Rylee McCollum's relatives said Baldwin accused them on Instagram of being Capitol insurrectionists.

  • His sister was in Washington, DC, during the riot but never entered the Capitol, the lawsuit said.

The family of a US Marine who was killed in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan over the summer has filed a $25 million defamation lawsuit against Alec Baldwin, saying the actor accused them on Instagram of being insurrectionists after he learned the Marine's sister was in Washington, DC, during the riot on January 6, 2021.

Relatives of Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, who was 20, said in the lawsuit that Baldwin's comments about the family on the social-media platform "were false, outrageous, defamatory, irresponsible, vindictive, and caused — and continue to cause — Plaintiffs severe emotional distress."

McCollum was among the 13 US service members killed in the attack at the Kabul airport on August 26 as troops withdrew from Afghanistan.

Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin.AP Photo/John Minchillo

The lawsuit, filed on Monday in the US District Court for the District of Wyoming by McCollum's two sisters, Roice and Cheyenne McCollum, and his widow, Jiennah McCollum, alleged Baldwin defamed the family to his 2.4 million Instagram followers.

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Baldwin donated $5,000 to the Marine's widow and her newborn daughter "as a tribute to a fallen soldier" after Rylee McCollum's death, the court papers said.

But on January 3, Baldwin posted about Roice McCollum after she shared a "throwback" photo of a crowd of pro-Trump protesters in front of the Washington Monument on January 6, 2021, "in anticipation" of the anniversary of the Capitol riot, the suit said.

"Are you the same woman that I sent the $ to for your sister's husband who was killed during the Afghanistan exit?" Baldwin's account commented on Roice McCollum's Instagram post.