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Sharpton Faces Defamation Demands After TMZ Interview

8/22/2026

Summary

Story summary

Attorneys J. Tyler Cox and Edward Paltzik mailed Al Sharpton a letter.
The letter says Al Sharpton’s July 14 TMZ interview defamed men by claiming they hid Wells’s phone and keys.
Attorneys demand apology, retraction, deletion and a seven-day correction under Mississippi defamation-per-se law.
Al Sharpton welcomed the lawsuit and will arrange service with plaintiffs’ counsel.
The three friends deny ever possessing, accessing or altering Wells’s phone or keys.

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Story summary

Attorneys J. Tyler Cox and Edward Paltzik mailed Al Sharpton a letter.
The letter says Al Sharpton’s July 14 TMZ interview defamed men by claiming they hid Wells’s phone and keys.
Attorneys demand apology, retraction, deletion and a seven-day correction under Mississippi defamation-per-se law.
Al Sharpton welcomed the lawsuit and will arrange service with plaintiffs’ counsel.
The three friends deny ever possessing, accessing or altering Wells’s phone or keys.