A woman is suing conservative actor James Woods for $3 million because he retweeted a picture last year that misidentified her as the woman giving a Nazi salute. Woods is asking a judge to dismiss the lawsuit because he complied and took down the offending post.
The photo in question was taken on March 11, 2016, and was published by the Chicago Tribune. Later, someone identified the woman in the photograph as Portia Boulger and then both the Tribune and The New York Times spread that misinformation. Woods retweeted based on those reports:
He was correct. Boulger is indeed a Sanders supporter, but not the woman in the picture. The woman in the photo is actually Birgitt Peterson, who said she was harassed by protesters about being a Nazi and said they were throwing up a hand gesture to her and her husband. Fed up, Peterson said, “If you’re gonna do it, do it right.” That’s when the flash bulbs went off. The Petersons were threatened after the photo was published.
So, too, was Boulger for being falsely associated with the photo and that’s why she is suing.
“I got horrible, horrible, nasty comments. They called me most worst of worst names," Boulger said. "They threatened. They said they hoped that I got raped by those liberals that go to the rallies and die of AIDs. They hoped that my children died of AIDS, that my grandchildren died of AIDs. One of the messages said something to the effect of, 'I'm gonna buy a gun and come hunting for you.' I've been getting hang-up calls since that happened."
All of this occurred as Boulger, who calls herself an activist, worked as a volunteer for Sanders’ presidential campaign out of Chilcothe, Ohio.
"I want Mr. Woods to understand the full power of the law in my country, that he cannot come after common citizens or anybody and get away with it," Boulger said. "I want justice."
Boulger is upset that everyone but Woods immediately deleted their tweets after her identity was corrected. However, Woods kept his up for 10 additional days. After he deleted his tweet, Woods posted the following:
But that’s not good enough for Boulger, who said, “I am a survivor. I am not a victim. And survivors do not reach out to their oppressors and ask them for help. It is extremely misogynistic.”
This isn’t the first lawsuit Woods has been involved with regarding Twitter. The star was the one suing two years ago after a user called him a “cocaine addict” and regularly targeted him online using derogatory terms. Woods sought $10 million for defamation but reached an undeclared settlement when the Twitter user died before a resolution could be reached.
(NOTE: As an added bonus, the video above is of Woods describing how he witnessed a dry run for 9/11 a month before the attacks on a flight from Boston to LA.)


