A man from Livingston County, Michigan, has taken drastic action after being falsely accused of using a racial slur against Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver DK Metcalf during a nationally televised confrontation at Ford Field in December. Ryan Kennedy, a lifelong Detroit Lions season-ticket holder and mortgage company CEO, has filed a $100 million defamation lawsuit against Metcalf, the Steelers, former NFL player Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson, sports media figures, and companies.
Kennedy alleges that Metcalf initiated physical contact without provocation and falsely accused him of using a racial slur. In reality, Kennedy claims he referred to Metcalf by his full name and only engaged in ordinary crowd jeering. After the incident, Kennedy was publicly labeled a racist on a nationally distributed sports podcast, which sparked widespread online harassment and death threats against him.
Kennedy's lawsuit centers on statements made by Johnson during a Dec. 22 episode of the "Nightcap" podcast, which are alleged to have been false and made with actual malice or reckless disregard for the truth. The complaint also accuses Sharpe of amplifying the claims and fueling online harassment and threats against Kennedy.
The lawsuit names major national outlets as examples of media organizations that republished the claims while citing the podcast as the source. Kennedy is seeking more than $100 million in damages, as well as court-ordered public retractions and corrections from the defendants through the same channels where the statements were originally published.
Metcalf has not yet publicly addressed the allegations in the lawsuit. However, he did face disciplinary action from the NFL for his behavior during the incident. The league suspended Metcalf for two games without pay for conduct detrimental to the NFL for initiating a physical confrontation with a fan.
Kennedy alleges that Metcalf initiated physical contact without provocation and falsely accused him of using a racial slur. In reality, Kennedy claims he referred to Metcalf by his full name and only engaged in ordinary crowd jeering. After the incident, Kennedy was publicly labeled a racist on a nationally distributed sports podcast, which sparked widespread online harassment and death threats against him.
Kennedy's lawsuit centers on statements made by Johnson during a Dec. 22 episode of the "Nightcap" podcast, which are alleged to have been false and made with actual malice or reckless disregard for the truth. The complaint also accuses Sharpe of amplifying the claims and fueling online harassment and threats against Kennedy.
The lawsuit names major national outlets as examples of media organizations that republished the claims while citing the podcast as the source. Kennedy is seeking more than $100 million in damages, as well as court-ordered public retractions and corrections from the defendants through the same channels where the statements were originally published.
Metcalf has not yet publicly addressed the allegations in the lawsuit. However, he did face disciplinary action from the NFL for his behavior during the incident. The league suspended Metcalf for two games without pay for conduct detrimental to the NFL for initiating a physical confrontation with a fan.
. $100 million is a lot of money, but I think it's worth it if it'll help him get his life back after all that online harassment and death threats 
. The fact that Chad Johnson said those "false" statements on the podcast is wild - I'm sure it's gonna be super hard for Kennedy to prove, though 
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. It shows he knows when he's crossed the line and has to respect people's boundaries 
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. It's like, you can't control how others perceive you, but you can control how you react to it. Ryan Kennedy's actions might've been seen as crazy, but he was basically fighting fire with fire. You know what they say: "don't feed the trolls"... and in this case, someone clearly did! 
What's crazy is that this whole thing snowballed into a $100 million lawsuit, and it's all because of some heated words exchanged between Metcalf and Kennedy.
. He got caught up in some drama and now he's being sued for $100 million 
? That's wild. And Metcalf is getting away with initiating a physical confrontation without provocation 
. I'm hoping this lawsuit gets resolved and Kennedy gets some justice 
I feel so bad for Ryan Kennedy, that guy's been through so much 
. And now he's taking on the NFL, Steelers, and even Chad Johnson with a $100 million lawsuit 
. Kennedy's right to fight back, but I hope he gets some real justice out of this 
. I'm not saying he's entirely innocent, but come on, can't we all just take a deep breath and calm down before making accusations? And what about the NFL's handling of the whole thing? Two games without pay for Metcalf seems pretty harsh to me 
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it's crazy how one tweet or podcast can ruin someone's life i mean yeah kennedy probably shouldn't have gotten physical with metcalf but a million dollar lawsuit over it? that's wild 
️ i don't think metcalf should be getting all this heat just because he got caught up in kennedy's drama 
I mean what if he was right?! What if Metcalf really did start that physical confrontation out of nowhere?! 
And now he's trying to sue them for like a billion bucks which is cool I guess but shouldn't they just apologize and move on?! 
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Like, what about fact-checking or something?! 
. Anyway, I'll believe this one when Metcalf's lawyers start handing out big fat checks 
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. We need more people speaking up against fake news and taking responsibility when we get it wrong 
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... i mean, $100 million lawsuit? that's just crazy talk! and metcalf's all like "oh, he started it" but kennedy's got proof he said metcalf's name like 5 times and didn't even throw a punch 
. and have you noticed how quickly everyone jumped on metcalf's bandwagon without even hearing kennedy's side of the story? it's all so suspicious 
& what with metcalf getting all that drama too... two games suspended already? 
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