COEUR d’ALENE — A jury has awarded more than $1.1 million in damages to the drag performer who sued a blogger for defamation.
The unanimous verdict was returned Friday. The jury found that blogger Summer Bushnell defamed Post Falls resident Eric Posey when she accused him of exposing himself to the crowd while he performed in drag at the Coeur d’Alene City Park bandshell in June 2022.
“The judicial system did what needed to be done,” Posey said after hearing the verdict Friday.
Jurors awarded Posey $926,000 in compensatory damages for defamation. Because Posey proved that Bushnell knew her allegations were false when she made them or that she made the accusations with “reckless disregard” for the truth, the jury awarded additional punitive damages in the amount of $250,000.
The day of Posey’s performance, June 11, 2022, Bushnell posted a video of herself discussing the mass arrest of Patriot Front members near City Park, as well as footage from Posey’s performance.
“Why did no one arrest the man in a dress who flashed his genitalia to minors and people in the crowd?” she said in the video. “No one said anything about it and there’s video. I’m going to put up a blurred video to prove it.”
The next day, Bushnell published an edited video she had received from local videographer Jeremy Lokken, which included a blur over Posey’s pelvis. Bushnell told others that the blur concealed “fully exposed genitals” and urged people to contact police.
The edited video garnered many thousands of views, sparking national news coverage and a police investigation. City prosecutors ultimately declined to file charges and stated publicly that the unedited video showed no exposure.
Bushnell was expressionless as she hurried out of the courtroom Friday………………
……..Posey said Bushnell’s false allegations have changed his life. He said he’s received death threats and faced harassment while edited images of him dancing at the bandshell became the symbol of a national movement against drag. He said the support of his friends helped him survive.
R&I ~ MJM
james blue
Article URL : https://cdapress.com/news/2024/may/24/jury-awards-11-million-in-damages-to-drag-performer/