ZitatAs additional video came to light, many journalists and public figures quickly deleted their snap condemnations of the students. Others either tried to keep the original narrative alive or refused to unequivocally retract or apologize for their initial claims, leading attorneys representing the students to threaten numerous defamation suits.
Among those public figures was Griffin, who in a January 20 tweet that remains up as of September 19, demanded, “Name these kids. I want NAMES. Shame them. If you think these f***ers wouldn’t dox you in a heartbeat, think again.” She also called for “stories from people who can identify them and vouch for their identity.” (Griffin also tweeted then deleted a false claim that an “OK” hand gesture at a Covington basketball game was actually a Nazi hand sign.)
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On Monday, attorneys representing several of the students and their families filed a federal lawsuit in the Eastern District of Kentucky seeks damages from the comedian for privacy invasion, menacing, threatening, and civil harassment.
Griffin “acted in a hateful, concerted, and targeted doxing campaign conducted in the Commonwealth of Kentucky to harass, humiliate, and threaten the Plaintiffs; to intrude upon and violate their privacy, and to substantially assist, encourage, and act in concert with others to engage in such harmful conduct,” the lawsuit alleged.
Her doxing calls “served no legitimate purpose” but to impose on the students a “reasonable apprehension” of retaliation, resulting in “death threats in the sanctity of their homes and school (CCH), and being subject to and incurring intimidation, harassment, annoyance, and alarm, including such injury to them in their future academic, business, career, and employment opportunities.”
The families seek a jury trial that they hope will find Griffin liable for “compensatory and punitive damages in an amount to be determined at trial,” plus attorney fees and trial expenses.