On Tuesday, after CNN’s Brian Stelter mocked Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis after DeSantis had slammed the mainstream media, saying they lie to the American people, Nicholas Sandmann, who was smeared by multiple news outlets including CNN after his encounter with a Native American activist after the 2019 March for Life in Washington, D.C., used one word to decimate Stelter: “Howdy.”
Howdy 🤠 https://t.co/J6949IkMSS
— Nicholas Sandmann (@N1ckSandmann) October 26, 2021
CNN settled for an undisclosed amount with Sandmann in January 2020 after Sandmann had sued the network in March 2019. The Daily Wire reported:
After multiple news outlets and media figures smeared him and his peers for allegedly “blocking” and “harassing” a Native American activist, Nathan Phillips, whose account of the confrontation was quickly discredited by additional footage of the situation, Sandmann sued CNN, The Washington Post, and NBC Universal for hundreds of millions of dollars.
The lawsuit against CNN stated: “CNN brought down the full force of its corporate power, influence, and wealth on Nicholas by falsely attacking, vilifying, and bullying him despite the fact that he was a minor child.”
After the lawsuit was filed, Fox News’ Sandra Smith asked one of Sandmann’s attorneys, Todd McMurtry, “What specifically does this lawsuit highlight about what we are seeing in that video and what happened in the minutes and hours that followed?”
“Well, what CNN’s tagline is facts first. And what we believe their reporting was in this circumstance was lies first; cover up second, and facts not yet determined by that organization,” McMurtry answered. “So the difference between this lawsuit and the other lawsuit that we have filed is that CNN is a very significant media organization with a much broader reach than say The Washington Post. It has a Twitter followers of 41 million people. It published four videos. Nine online articles that were tweeted out. So that’s millions and millions and millions of repetitions of the lies and falsehoods that CNN spread.”
Fox 19 reported in January 2020, “The amount of the settlement was not made public during a hearing at the federal courthouse in Covington.”
In July 2020, Sandmann announced that his legal team had settled its $250 million defamation lawsuit with The Washington Post. He wrote, “Thanks to my family & millions of you who have stood your ground by supporting me. I still have more to do.”
In August 2020, as Sandmann spoke at the Republican National Convention, CNN analyst Joe Lockhart, who had served as former President Bill Clinton’s press secretary, took a shot at him, calling Sandmann a “snot nose entitled kid.” Lockhart tweeted, “I’m watching tonight because it’s important. But i don’t have to watch this snot nose entitled kid from Kentucky.”
I'm watching tonight because it's important. But i don't have to watch this snot nose entitled kid from Kentucky.
— Joe Lockhart (@joelockhart) August 26, 2020
At the convention, Sandmann recalled the attacks on him after the incident in Washington, D.C.:
My life changed forever in that one moment. The full war machine of the mainstream media revved up into attack mode. They did so without ever researching the full video of the incident; without ever investigating Mr. Philips’ motives; or without ever asking me for my side of the story. And do you know why? Because the truth wasn’t important. Advancing their anti-Christian, anti-Conservative, anti-Donald Trump narrative was all that mattered. And if advancing their narrative ruined the reputation and future of a teenager from Covington, Kentucky…so be it. That will teach him not to wear a MAGA hat!
I learned that what was happening to me had a name. It was called being cancelled. As in annulled. As in revoked. As in made void. Cancelled is what’s happening to people around this country who refuse to be silenced by the far left. Many are being fired, humiliated or even threatened. Often, the media is a willing participant.
But I wouldn’t be cancelled. I fought back hard to expose the media for what they did to me and won a personal victory. While much more must be done, I look forward to the day that the media returns to providing balanced, responsible and accountable news coverage.