MSNBC’s Joy Reid is facing a legal battle amid her new job as a primetime host after the Second Circuit Court of Appeals revived a libel suit against her Wednesday.
Reid was sued by Roslyn La Liberte, a Trump supporter, in 2018 after she said the MSNBC host falsely accused her on social media of screaming racist slurs at a 14-year-old boy. Reid sent multiple tweets regarding a viral photo appearing to show La Liberte yelling at the young boy.
The MSNBC host tweeted that the Trump supporter “needs to be put on blast” and claimed that La Liberte came to “a rally” and “screamed” that the boy is “going to be the first deported.” Reid also claimed that La Liberte referred to the child as a “dirty Mexican,” according to a past Fox News report.
“Make the picture black and white and it could be the 1950s and the desegregation of a school. Hate is real, y’all. It hasn’t even really gone away,” Reid added on both Instagram and Facebook according to The Hollywood Reporter. (RELATED: Here Are 7 Times Joy Reid, MSNBC’s New Primetime Host, Spread Misinformation)
Joseph Luevanos, the 14-year-old, said that the conversation was civil, Fox LA reported in 2018. Despite this, a district court judge originally ruled in Reid’s favor last September, saying that La Liberte could not prove that Reid proceeded with malice with her apparently false claims.
It appears I got this wrong. My apologies to Mrs. La Liberte and Joseph. https://t.co/J8vZsCwAvs
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) July 2, 2018
La Liberte appealed the decision, saying that the suit was dismissed wrongfully and arguing against California’s anti-SLAPP statute – which tries to limit litigation that would potentially overthrow the First Amendment, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
In turn, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals revived the claims Wednesday. Following this decision, the federal appellate circuit deemed that laws such as California’s anti-SLAPP statute don’t count for federal court.
“Reid urges us to follow the Ninth Circuit, which holds that California’s anti-SLAPP statute and the Federal Rules can exist side by side . . . without conflict,” Judge Dennis Jacobs wrote according to Hollywood Reporter. “We disagree.”
MSNBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller.