Samantha Markle has denied being part of any “troll” or “hate group” against Meghan Markle in new court filings that have hit the spotlight this week, as the duchess’s legal headache with her half-sister continues.
The Duchess of Sussex was sued by her half-sister over comments she made to Oprah Winfrey in 2021 and on her Netflix docuseries, Harry And Meghan, in 2022.
Samantha accused the former Suits actress of claiming “false and malicious lies” about her fairytale “rags-to-royalty” upbringing and contested her claim that she “grew up as an only child”.
But she lost the case back in March when a US court dismissed the defamation case. However, she is currently fighting to appeal the ruling at the Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.
In the Netflix docuseries, it was stated that Samantha “was part of the group that was putting out … disinformation” against Meghan and also featured a clip of the duchess herself saying: “You are making people want to kill me”.
According to US magazine Newsweek, which claimed it’s seen a new filing by Samantha’s lawyer, Peter Ticktin, the duchess’s half-sister denies being part of any hate group and accuses her of “verbally attacking her” in the documentary.
The outlet further claimed that the case is now focused on a particular segment in the documentary featuring Christopher Bouzy, founder of social media analysis firm Bot Sentinel, and Meghan’s own words.
Mr Bouzy said in the series: “So this is not your everyday trolling. It’s insane. And it was done by people who were just not the typical quote-unquote trolls. These are housewives. These are middle-aged Caucasian women. Samantha Markle was part of the group that was putting out a lot of this disinformation.”
The segment ended with Meghan saying: “You are making people want to kill me. It’s not just a tabloid. It’s not just some story. You are making me scared.”
The filing reportedly read: “There can be no doubt that Meghan Markle attacked her sister Samantha Markle verbally in her documentary.”
It added that Samantha “never was part of any group which put out disinformation, never trolled Meghan, was never part of any hate group, never used the N-word on tweets, never monetarised any hate tweets against Meghan, or did anything to make anyone want to kill Meghan or have Meghan made nervous because of any such activity.”
Samantha’s lawyer also argued that the use of the word “you” by Meghan in “You are making people want to kill me” was not a generic reference and was specifically directed at her half-sister.
The filing seen by Newsweek added: “Samantha has suffered very real effects as a result of Meghan’s intentional, harmful, and disparaging campaign against her disabled sister.
“The truth of the matter is that Samantha took no part in any of the online harassment which Meghan faced.”
Meghan’s lawyers have previously said in their own filing: “An implicit or express statement that [Samantha] belongs to a hate group spreading disinformation about Meghan is an opinion protected by the First Amendment.”
They added: “[Samantha’s] bad faith tactics are for nought: Each of the challenged implications in the opening appeal brief is nonactionable for two or more reasons. First, the District Court was correct that actual malice was absolutely lacking here. There is no claim Meghan harbored serious doubts about the basis for Bouzy’s on-camera statements, as required for her to be liable for the statements of a source.”
