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A 22-year-old college graduate is suing Elon Musk, alleging defamation because the social media site’s owner falsely named him as a neo-Nazi rioter involved in a brawl between the Proud Boys and a rival extremist group at an event of Oregon Pride in July.
Ben Brody, 22, sued Musk on October 2 in Texas state court. He alleges he was harassed and doxxed 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 the neo-Nazi group Rose City Nationalists “.
Brody – who is Jewish – is seeking more than $1 million in damages against Musk.
In video footage of the skirmish, one of the Proud Boys unmasked an MRC member and viewers began to identify the member, with some saying it was Brody.
However, Brody claims it wasn’t 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. Jewish California resident seeks more than $1 million in damages against Musk
Brody claims he was harassed after Musk accused him of being involved in a fight between the Proud Boys and the neo-Nazi group Rose City Nationalists. At one point during the fight, one of the members unmasked himself and, in panic, quickly covered his face. Users quickly began trying to identify him and falsely 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 spread anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric.
At the same festival were members of the RCN, a neo-Nazi group. The two groups were already in a “fight” with each other and during the festival, the situation escalated and led to violence.
Proud Boys members began hitting MRC members with American flag poles and shouted, “Leave, bitch!” “.
In the middle of the fight, one of the members unmasked himself and, in panic, quickly covered his face.
In an attempt to identify the member, one account falsely claimed it was Brody. The user posted all of Brody’s personal information on his account.
The information quickly reached Musk and without fact-checking the user’s claims, Musk took it upon himself to comment on the matter.
Since then, Brody has been continually harassed by users and was eventually forced to make a statement, he claims in the lawsuit.
According to US law, defamation is defined as a method of defamation through a written or oral statement or representation that creates an unfairly 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 spread anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric.
At the same festival were members of the RCN, a neo-Nazi group. The two groups were already in a “fight” with each other and during the festival, the situation escalated and led to violence.
Some viewers, including Musk, claimed the incident of far-right violence was false and inaccurately claimed that members of the neo-Nazi group were actually federal agents.
The lawsuit states: “In another example of Elon Musk’s series of slanders, 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 publication, Musk tweeted: “Looks like one is a student (wanting to join the government) and another is possibly an Antifa member, but nonetheless it’s probably a false flag situation.”
However, the lawsuit claims that’s where the problem started.
“Musk became accustomed to making ‘reckless’ false statements with impunity, and his messages unleashed a wave of harassment and threats,” the lawsuit reads.
“Musk’s actions appear to be fueled by his ever-increasing addiction to posting on Twitter, the social media platform he purchased in 2022.
Musk tweeted: “Looks like one is a student (who wants to join the government) and another is possibly a member of Antifa, but nonetheless this is probably a false flag situation.”
Proud Boys members began hitting MRC members with American flag poles and shouted, “Leave, bitch!” »
In an attempt to identify the member, one account falsely claimed it was Brody. The user posted all of Brody’s personal information on his account.
The lawsuit states: “In another example of Elon Musk’s series of slanders, 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 has now been deleted, Brody said: “My family and I are being completely harassed, and I would be more than happy to clear up any confusion if necessary.
“This is so ridiculous and I honestly can’t believe this is happening to me right now.”
He also displayed his debit card receipts showing he was in California at the time of the incident.
Brody has since deleted all of his social media accounts.
His lawyer, Mark Bankston, took the stand to detail his client’s defense. In a series of tweets, Bankston explained and answered all likely questions related to the trial.
Read the rest of his tweets here:
“Ben knows that unless he attempts to hold Musk accountable for such a reckless misrepresentation, many people will continue to believe the accusation or view him with a cloud of suspicion.”
” Readers of Musk’s tweet were unable to assess the quality of Musk’s source (which in reality was a bizarre extremist Groyper). They simply had to take his word 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 9 of the circumstances supporting Ben’s defamation claim, as well as Ben’s distress because Musk had taken no action to withdraw his accusation.
“Musk refuses to retract, has refused to apologize, and will not engage in any discussion of Ben’s defamation allegations. In fact, Musk’s lawyer has indicated that Musk would seek to change the fee if Ben attempted to sue,” Bankston revealed.