Nicholas Sandmann, the former Covington Catholic High School student who famously donned a MAGA hat during a viral encounter with a Native American activist, has settled his defamation suit against NBC-Universal. Sandmann made the announcement via social media on Friday.
The viral moment received national attention while the teenager attended the 2019 March for Life in Washington, D.C. Legacy media figures immediately and falsely claimed Sandmann was harassing Native American man, who was playing a drum while chanting in Sandmann’s face.
Longer versions of the video soon surfaced, after false national media attacks against Sandmann, which showed the Native American man confronted Sandmann while the teenager calmly watched as the man continued chanting.
Sandmann faced an onslaught of unfair attacks from prominent media figures, and became the subject of false media reporting which framed his encounter with the Native American man as racially-charged.
Sandmann sued NBC-Universal and its affiliate MSNBC for a reported $275 million, according to a story published in the New York Post. Sandmann’s settlement remains confidential, but experts estimate Sandmann likely received a payment of at least seven figures, as reported by Fox News.
In addition to NBC-Universal, Sandmann also filed lawsuits against ABC, CBS, The Guardian, the Huffington Post, NPR, Slate, and The Hill, according to the Post.
NBC-Universal is the third major media outlet to settle lawsuits with Sandmann—CNN and the Washington Post settled similar defamation claims for undisclosed amounts.
