A 22-year-old college graduate is suing Elon Musk, alleging defamation as the social-media site owner falsely named him as a neo-Nazi rioter involved in a brawl between the Proud Boys and a rival extremist group during an Oregon Pride event in July.
Ben Brody, 22, sued Musk on October 2 in Texas state court. He alleges he was harassed and doxed after Musk on X, formerly Twitter, ‘amplified and at one point directly accused Brody of being involved in a fight between the Proud Boys and neo-Nazi group Rose City Nationalists.’
Brody – who is Jewish – is seeking more than $1 million in damages against Musk.
In video footage from the skirmish, one of the Proud Boys unmasked a member of RCN and viewers started to identify the member, with some claiming it was Brody.
However, Brody claims it was not him and to this day, the unmasked member has not been properly identified.
Ben Brody, 22, sued Musk on October 2 in Texas state court. The Jewish California resident is is seeking more than $1 million in damages against Musk
Brody alleges he was harassed after Musk accused Brody of being involved in a fight between the Proud Boys and neo-Nazi group Rose City Nationalists. At some point in the fight, one of the members came unmasked and in a panic quickly covered his face. Users quickly began to try to identify him and incorrectly linked him to Brody
On June 24, members of the Portland Proud Boys went to Oregon City’s first-ever Pride Night Fest to disrupt the event and to spread anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric.
At the same festival were the were members of RCN, a neo-Nazi group. Both groups were already in a ‘fight’ with each other and at the festival, it escalated and led to violence.
Members of the Proud Boys began to strike RCN members with American flagpoles and yelled, ‘be gone b****!’.
In the middle of the fight, one of the members came unmasked and in a panic quickly covered his face.
In an attempt to identify the member, one account falsely said it was Brody. The user posted all of Brody’s personal information on their account.
The information soon reached Musk and without fact-checking any of the claims made by the user, Musk took upon himself to comment on the case.
Since then, Brody was continuously harassed by users and eventually was forced to make a statement, he claims in the lawsuit.
As per American law, Libel is defined as a method of defamation through a written or oral statement or representation that creates an unjustly unfavorable impression.
On June 24, members of the Portland Proud Boys went to Oregon City’s first-ever Pride Night Fest to disrupt the event and to spread anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric
At the same festival were the were members of RCN, a neo-Nazi group. Both groups were already in a ‘fight’ with each other and at the festival, it escalated and led to violence
Some viewers, including Musk, claimed that the incident of far-right violence was false and inaccurately claimed the members of the neo-Nazi group were actually federal agents.
The lawsuit states: ‘In yet another example of Elon Musk’s serial pattern of slander, he falsely told the world that Ben Brody participated in a violent street brawl on behalf of a neo-Nazi extremist group.
At the time of the release, Musk tweeted: ‘Looks like one is a college student (who wants to join the govt) and another is maybe an Antifa member, but nonetheless a probable false flag situation.’
However, the lawsuit claims this is where the problem started.
‘Musk has settled into a consistent of a pattern of making ‘reckless’ false statements with impunity, and that his posts triggered a wave of harassment and threats,’ the lawsuit read.
‘Musk’s actions appear to be fueled by his ever-growing addiction to posting on Twitter, the social media platform he bought in 2022.
Musk tweeted: ‘Looks like one is a college student (who wants to join the govt) and another is maybe an Antifa member, but nonetheless a probable false flag situation’
Members of the Proud Boys began to strike RCN members with American flagpoles and yelled, ‘be gone b****!’
In an attempt to identify the member, one account falsely said it was Brody. The user posted all of Brody’s personal information on their account.
The lawsuit states: ‘In yet another example of Elon Musk’s serial pattern of slander, he falsely told the world that Ben Brody participated in a violent street brawl on behalf of a neo-Nazi extremist group’
In an Instagram video that’s now been removed, Brody said: ‘My family and I are just being harassed completely, and I would be more than happy to clear up any confusion if necessary.
‘This is just so ridiculous and I just really can’t believe this is happening to me right now.’
He also posted receipts of his debit card showing he was in California at the time of the incident.
Since then, Brody has deleted all of his social media accounts.
His lawyer, Mark Bankston took to the platform to detail his client’s defense. In a series of tweets, Bankston explained and answered all probable questions related to the lawsuit.
Read more of his tweets here:
‘Ben does know that unless he attempts to hold Musk accountable for such a reckless false statement, many people will continue to believe the accusation or view him with a cloud of suspicion.
‘Readers of Musk’s tweet could not assess the quality of Musk’s source (which in truth was a weirdo extremist Groyper). They simply had to take his word for it that he had seen information supporting the rumor that Ben was the unmasked neo-Nazi,’ Bankston continued.
‘Musk was informed through his attorneys on August 9thof the circumstances supporting Ben’s claim for defamation, as well as Ben’s distress that Musk had not taken any steps to retract his accusation.
‘Musk refuses to issue a retraction, declined to apologize, and will not engage in any discussion whatsoever about Ben’s defamation claim. In fact, Musk’s attorney indicated Musk will seek to shift fees if Ben attempts a lawsuit,’ Bankston revealed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
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