Joy Reid Sued For Defamation After Falsely Claiming Iraqi Trump Supporter Yelled Racist Slurs At Teen
Joy Reid has been slapped with a defamation lawsuit by a California woman named Roslyn La Liberte who alleges the MSNBC host used her social media platform to maliciously spread a false rumor that La Liberte had screamed racist epithets at a teenage boy while attending a city council meeting in June 2018.
In the federal lawsuit filed in New York, Roslyn La Liberte alleged, “Reid used her substantial social media presence, fame, and reputation…to publish to her many followers that Plaintiff Roslyn La Liberte screamed abhorrent racial slurs at a 14-year-old boy.”
In June 2018, Reid posted a photo of La Liberte looking upset while talking to 14-year-old Joseph Luevanos with the caption, “He showed up to a rally to defend immigrants…She showed up too, in her MAGA hat, and screamed, ‘You are going to be the first deported’…’dirty Mexican!'”
Reid: ‘This Woman Needs To Be Put On Blast’
Joy Reid shared the defamatory post with her legions of followers on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
She also urged her fans to share her post in order to embarrass and harass La Liberte. “Spread this far and wide,” Reid wrote. “This woman needs to be put on blast.”
Reid later apologized after the boy and his mom confirmed to reporters that the exchange was completely “civil.”
It appears I got this wrong. My apologies to Mrs. La Liberte and Joseph. https://t.co/J8vZsCwAvs
— Joy-Ann (Pro-Democracy) Reid ? (@JoyAnnReid) July 2, 2018
In fact, Joseph Luevanos, 14, told a reporter, “I felt like she was trying to keep it civil, which I appreciate.”
A video showed that La Liberte and the boy hugged warmly after their conversation had finished.
Reid never mentioned any of this, which is why she’s being sued.
Roslyn La Liberte accused Reid — a vocal opponent of President Donald Trump — of deliberately pushing the false story in order to promote her anti-Trump narrative.
“Reid made her false accusations for the improper purpose of advancing her own professional and political agenda at the expense of La Liberte’s reputation and privacy,” the federal lawsuit alleges.
‘Reid Has An Extreme Bias Against Trump Supporters’
La Liberte’s complaint alleges that Reid maliciously and intentionally spread the false rumors because of her hatred for Trump supporters.
“Reid set out to destroy La Liberte because she disagrees with La Liberte’s MAGA hat and the beliefs Reid ascribes to those wearing that hat conflict with her ideology,” the complaint alleges.
“Reid has a demonstrable, extreme, and well-publicized bias against President Donald Trump, his supporters, and the Republican Party.”
As a result of Reid’s malicious, reckless, defamatory attacks, Roslyn La Liberte said she has been barraged with hundreds of death threats, hate emails, and violent voicemails, which she saved as exhibits in her lawsuit.
The sickening threats included the following:
- “YOU ARE A DISGRACE. I WISH YOUR CHILDREN WERE RIPPED FROM YOU SO YOU COULD UNDERSTAND THE PAIN…. You are a dirty white woman b***h.”
- “Dear racist b***h! It seems like your old poor evil soul never left the Hitler era… What a waste, what an embarrassment, what a disgrace of the human kind to have people like you in this world.”
- “You’re the kind of White Trash that should be dragged into the Town Square & flogged. Your tongue should be cut out. LEAVE THIS COUNTRY –you are an ABSOLUTE DISGRACE!! I’m glad everyone in the entire world knows what a racist piece of s**t you are f**k you a*****e.”
- “Want Out? Your life is probably becoming a living hell and you don’t know how to handle it. I can offer a way out.”
- “You’re a worthless human being. Go kill yourself.”
In her defamation lawsuit, Roslyn La Liberte pointed out that she is the child and grandchild of immigrants.
La Liberte said her Iraqi grandparents had immigrated to Indonesia several decades ago, and her parents had emigrated (legally) from Indonesia to the United States.
Rather than celebrate her diverse background, “Reid used her megaphone as a national celebrity to falsely paint La Liberte as the face of racism in America” because she wore a MAGA hat, according to the lawsuit.
