Shirley Sherrod Sues Breitbart Over NAACP Clip

Suit holds blogger 'damaged her reputation'
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 14, 2011 7:08 AM CST
Shirley Sherrod Sues Breitbart Over NAACP Clip
Ousted Agriculture Department employee Shirley Sherrod listens during a panel discussion at the National Association of Black Journalists Annual Convention Thursday, July 29, 2010 in San Diego.   (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Shirley Sherrod has followed through on plans to sue Andrew Breitbart following an out-of-context video clip he released last year that ended up getting her fired from her USDA job. The suit holds that Breitbart’s video "damaged her reputation and prevented her from continuing her work," Salon reports. The conservative media honcho "categorically rejects the transparent effort to chill his constitutionally protected free speech."

Following the filing of the suit, one of Breitbart’s websites posted a piece labeling it “the Pigford Lawsuit,” referencing a government legal settlement with black farmers that Breitbart has attacked. “I can promise you this: neither I, nor my journalistic websites, will or can be silenced by the institutional Left, which is obviously funding this lawsuit,” he said. Last year, Breitbart’s video excerpt of an NAACP speech suggested Sherrod had discriminated against white farmers, prompting a media uproar—but the discrimination claims were false. (Click for more on Breitbart's obsession with the Pigford settlement.)

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