Covington Catholic High School teen Nicholas Sandmann is suing CNN for $275 million over irresponsible smears made against him about his interaction with a Native American activist in January.

Lawyers for Sandmann have filed the defamation lawsuit on Tuesday, which claimed that the cable news network perpetrated a "vicious attack" on the teenager.



Videos of the interaction went viral immediately after the teen stood in front of Nathan Phillips, who was banging a drum in a crowd of Catholic teenagers who were protesting for the pro-life movement in Washington D.C.

The legal complaint outlined the problem with reporting of the event from various news outlets, including CNN.

"In short, the false and defamatory gist of CNN's collective reporting conveyed to its viewers and readers that Nicholas was the face of an unruly hate mob of hundreds of white racist high school students who physically assaulted, harassed, and taunted two different minority groups engaged in peaceful demonstrations, preaching, song, and prayer."

After the teens were excoriated by many in the news media and on social media, longer footage of the event showed that they had been attacked and insulted before the videos that went viral. Other video also showed that Phillips had confronted the teens, and not the other way around as reported.

The lawsuit seeks $200 million in punitive damages, and $75 million in compensatory damages from "the reputational harm, emotional distress, and mental anguish caused by CNN's false attacks."

Sandmann has already filed a lawsuit against the Washington Post for their part in the debacle. They soon after quietly issued a correction to their story, months after the event.

A lawyer for Sandmann had revealed on Fox News on Saturday that they were going to file a lawsuit against CNN.

Here's the interview with Sandmann's lawyer on Fox News: