Covington Catholic student at center of disputed clash with Native American activist sues NBC for $275m, claiming they saw him as an 'easy target' to 'advance anti-Trump agenda'
- Nicholas Sandmann's lawyers accuse the network of 'creating a false narrative'
- A viral image seemed to show him squaring off against activist Nathan Phillips
- Later video painted a very different picture of the January 18 clash in Washington
The Covington Catholic High School student at the center of a much-debated clash with a Native American activist earlier this year is suing NBC for $275million over its coverage of the event.
Nicholas Sandmann's lawyers accuse the network of 'creating a false narrative' by suggesting the teenager had 'committed a hate crime'.
They allege that NBC picked on Sandmann, who was wearing a red Make America Great Again hat, as an 'easy target to advance its anti-Trump agenda'.
The teenager had appeared to be squaring up to Nathan Phillips with a smirk on his face, in a viral but misleading image taken during a clash between rival marches.
Footage which emerged later told a different story, showing that both groups had been targeted by separate protesters and that Phillips had approached the Catholic students.
Sandmann insisted he was trying to defuse tensions by smiling at the Native American during the January 18 incident in Washington.
Disputed: This viral image appeared to show Nicholas Sandmann (left) squaring off against Nathan Phillips (right) but later footage painted a very different version of events
Clash: Nicholas Sandmann, left, is suing NBC for $275million over its coverage of his clash with Nathan Phillips (right) in Washington on January 18
His legal filing says: 'NBCUniversal elevated false, heinous accusations of racist conduct against Nicholas.
'Nicholas was an easy target for NBC to advance its anti-Trump agenda because he was a 16-year-old white, Catholic student who had attended the Right to Life March that day and was wearing a MAGA cap at the time of the incident which he had purchased earlier in the day as a souvenir.'
The network's coverage 'conveyed that he was the face of an unruly hate mob of hundreds of white racist high school students,' the document says.
In the lawyers' version of events, Sandmann had been 'specifically targeted' by Phillips who 'placed himself directly in front of' the student.
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Sandmann stood 'quietly and respectfully for several minutes' while Phillips beat his drum, the legal submission states.
The lawsuit demands $200million in punitive damages and a further $75million in compensation for 'reputational harm, emotional distress and mental anguish'.
The student is also suing CNN and the Washington Post over their coverage of the January 18 clash.
President Trump celebrated the Kentucky student's lawsuit against the Post in February, saying: 'Go get them Nick'.
Face-off: Sandmann (pictured front, standing in front of the Native American activist) alleges that the network used him as an 'easy target' to 'advance an anti-Trump agenda'
Trump had earlier said the students were 'treated unfairly with early judgements proving out to be false'.
Both Sandmann and Phillips have said they were trying to defuse tensions that were rising among three groups.
Washington hosted both the anti-abortion March for Life, attended by the Covington students, and the Indigenous Peoples March on the same day.
Both groups had earlier been confronted by a third group that appeared to be affiliated with the Black Hebrew Israelite movement.
Videos showed members of the religious group yelling disparaging and profane insults at the students, some of whom shouted back.
Cheerleader: President Donald Trump, pictured at the White House yesterday, celebrated when Sandmann launched a lawsuit against the Washington Post
A private investigative firm hired by the Covington Diocese and Covington Catholic High School concluded that the students did not instigate the confrontation (file photo)
Sandmann said he heard no student sing anything beyond school spirit chants, and that he had not even been aware of the Native American group until Phillips approached him.
'The protester everyone has seen in the video began playing his drum as he waded into the crowd, which parted for him. I did not see anyone try to block his path,' Sandmann has said.
'He locked eyes with me and approached me, coming within inches of my face. He played his drum the entire time he was in my face.'
Sandmann said one of the Native American protesters yelled at them that they 'stole our land' and they should 'go back to Europe,' but that he never spoke to or interacted with Phillips.
'I did smile at one point because I wanted him to know that I was not going to become angry, intimidated or be provoked into a larger confrontation,' he said.
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