José Rolón isn't letting conservatives attack his family without a fight.
The influencer, known by the handle @nycgaydad, has filed a defamation lawsuit against right-wing host and conspiracy theorist Stew Peters months after the pundit accused him – without evidence – of committing sex crimes against his three young children.
The five-count lawsuit, first shared with The Advocate, lists all the defamatory statements made by Peters against Rolón, suing him for bias-related intimidation under New York Civil Rights Law. The lawsuit asks for compensatory and punitive damages, legal costs, and for Peters to give up all financial gains earned from harassing Rolón.
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“Peters stirs up user engagement across [the 1.6 million followers on his] platforms by convincing his followers that Christian Americans are under attack by Jews, the LGBTQ+ community, and other marginalized groups, often unleashing a frenzy on specific individuals who are representative of those communities, such as small-town mayors who allow Pride parades," the lawsuit states.
Rolón began receiving threatening messages from Peters' followers shortly after the host's claims in February, which included dubbing the father a “creep” and “pervert homo," as well as accusing Rolón of “criminal sexual conduct” and calling for his public execution.
“Some pervert homo has access to at least four kids around the clock all the time,” Peters said in a video posted to both Instagram and Rumble. “He can take them to drag conventions and then post the evidence, post pictures and videos of criminal sexual conduct … and somehow not end up in jail, or better yet, the gallows.”
While Rolón told The Advocate at the time that the false statements were "shocking," he wasn't going to let Peters spread hateful "misinformation" unchecked. The father soon after received help from attorneys at Locke Lord LLP, who took on his case pro bono and sent a cease-and-desist letter to Peters demanding that his network remove all videos that mention Rolón or his children. Peters immediately complied.
C.A. Goldberg, PLLC – a victims’ rights law firm specialized in representing victims of defamation, stalking, sexual assault, and extreme injuries facilitated by online platforms – filed Rolón 's lawsuit Thursday morning with the New York Supreme Court, Kings County. Carrie Goldberg, the firm’s founder, said in a statement first shared with The Advocate that "the sort of harassment and incitement my client and his young family suffered may be celebrated online, but a Brooklyn jury will look at it very, very differently."
“There’s a responsibility that comes with having as far a reach as Peters has. Our country has fought hard for First Amendment protections. But free speech never extends to inciting people to harass private citizens and make hoax police reports against them," Goldberg said. “It just takes one rogue believer to upend a life."