Breaking: Covington Catholic Kid, Nicholas Sandmann, Sues WaPo For $250 Million

(Reuters) – A high school student from Covington, Kentucky, at the center of a videotaped incident at the Lincoln Memorial involving a Native American activist sued the Washington Post for defamation on Tuesday, claiming the newspaper “vilified” him because he is white. 

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Kentucky by Covington Catholic High School student Nicholas Sandmann, 16, seeks $250 million in damages – saying that was the amount Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com and the world’s richest person, paid for the Post in 2013. 

“The Post wrongfully targeted and bullied Nicholas because he was the white, Catholic student wearing a red ‘Make America Great Again’ souvenir cap on a school field trip to the Jan. 18 March for Life in Washington, D.C.,” the lawsuit claims. 

Sandmann “was unexpectedly and suddenly confronted by Nathan Phillips … a known Native American activist, who beat a drum and sang loudly within inches of his face,” the suit said. 

Representatives for the Washington Post did not immediately respond to a request by Reuters for comment.