HomeCrimeGeorgia court dismisses alleged neo-Nazi's defamation claim

Georgia court dismisses alleged neo-Nazi’s defamation claim

Anti-racism demonstrators participate in a rally that started in Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta on Saturday, Aug. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Todd Kirkland)

The Georgia Supreme Court ruled Wednesday to dismiss the defamation claims of a member of hate group Goyim Defense League who sued a business owner for responding to his “review bombing” with a post that called him a neo-Nazi and member of the KKK.

Valerie Millsaps and her husband own Wall to Wall Frames, Inc. & Artist Boutique, a custom framing shop in Cartersville, Georgia. Michael David Weaver, also known as Michael Carothers, is known to local police in Georgia as a self-proclaimed white supremacist. Weaver, a member of neo-Nazi group National Alliance, organized an antisemitic rally outside a Cobb County synagogue in 2023 and spent a year in prison for assaulting a Black man in 2010.

In June 2022, Millsaps drove past Weaver, who was standing on the street holding a sign with antisemitic messaging. Millsaps flipped him off by “display[ing] her middle finger.” Weaver next took things a step further and, since he had seen Millsaps’ business logo on the side of the van she was driving, posted on his personal blog asking followers to leave negative Google reviews of Millsaps’ business.

Weavers followers complied and within 12 hours, multiple negative reviews appeared on the frame shop’s review page. Weaver next thanked his supporters who had left the reviews and wrote, “I’m just getting warmed up! Total f—— war!”

Millsaps posted her own comment on her shop’s Google review page that said:

My business is being targeted by a Neo Nazi and a member of the KKK. Please disregard the reviews. None of those profiles have ever entered my shop. I am being harassed and bullied by Michael [Weaver]. A known felon of hate crimes. He has targeted many businesses in our town. I refuse to be intimidated by him and his hate literature that he has left at my shop and my home. He has threatened to kill other shop members and flooded their Google reviews with harassing, untrue reviews. You can decide to try my shop and let my experience speak. Please note all date stamps are in a concentrated period of time. I choose LOVE over HATE. Thank you kindly.

Millsaps said that after the negative reviews were posted, the shop’s Google rating plummeted and, as a result, business declined.

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