'Covington kid' Nicholas Sandmann loses lawsuits against media outlets including NYT, ABC, and Rolling Stone

The teen who appeared in a video in an apparent confrontation with a Native American elder has lost his defamation lawsuits.

The cases were struck by a federal judge on Tuesday, according to court documents.

The lawsuit was based on statements made by the elder, NathanPhillips, which were broadcast in the media.

The judge said these were unverifiable and unactionable.

The ruling was a "disappointment" according to the man.

—Nicholas Sandmann (@N1ckSandmann) July 28, 2022

At the Indigenous People's March in Washington, D.C. in January, a group of students from a catholic high school met with a march in front of the lincoln memorial.

One video showed a young man standing in front of a young man playing a drum while smiling. The fellow high school student was dancing and yelling with the drumming.

The footage was widely shared on social media and on mainstream media.

CNN reported that Sandmann said he was trying to "defuse the situation" by being motionless and calm.

Further footage showed that a separate group of protesters had been yelling offensive terms at the group that Sandmann was standing with beforePhillips approached him.

News outlets sympathetically interviewedPhillips after the encounter. He didn't like the idea that Sandmann would not allow him to retreat.

The judge said that these are unverifiable and can only be considered as opinion, which is unactionable in this case.

The media defendants were covering a matter of great public interest and they reported the first-person view of what he experienced.

The reader would notice thatPhillips was giving his perspective on the event.

The judge said his decisions were made with no consideration of the political debate associated with the cases.

The incident has become a cause in conservative circles. The Republican National Convention will be held in 2020.

The furor was not an argument about facts and evidence and truth according to Tucker Carlson. It's an argument about who you are.

CNN and The Washington Post paid undisclosed sums to settle their lawsuits. The outlets did not admit any wrongdoing in their coverage.