What A Hater! 'Free Speech' Rally Organizer Sues Boston Mayor

BOSTON, MA — Excuse us while we pull out the heavy-duty air quotes on this one. One of the organizers of August's "free speech" rally on the Boston Common is suing Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, who he claims got him fired from his job for branding the event's speakers part of a hate group.

Brandon Navom, a Lowell resident from North Adams, said he's out of work because Walsh called the speakers"Neo-nazis" and "White supremacists," among other things. Navom is seeking $100 million in total damages, half of which would be punitive.

The suit was filed Monday in Berkshire Superior Court. In the complaint, Navom said it was directly because of Walsh's "defamatory comments" that his employer was harassed by an "Internet hate mob" until he was fired.

Navom was fired the day after the deadly Charlottesville incident, The Boston Globe reported. The Boston rally took place the following weekend. Navom didn't attend.

"My reputation has been ruined and I will suffer emotional and economic loss the rest of my life because of Mayor Marty Walsh's high profile defamatory comments," the suit reads, according to the Berkshire Eagle. It also claims Walsh made the statements as a political move.

The organizers behind the rally on the Common vehemently denied any association with the "Unite the Right" group at the center of the violence in Charlottesville.

Navom's attorney, Rinaldo Del Gallo, who was also an organizer of the event, filed the suit in Western Mass. to avoid what he called bias, The Boston Herald reports.

Navon ran for City Council in Lowell, finishing 21st out of 22 candidates, and attended the Libertarian Party’s nation convention in 2016, according to Anti-Defamation League. He was a Ron Paul delegate in the 2012 presidential campaign.

August's rally in Boston drew a smattering of supporters who were drowned out by tens of thousands of counterprotestors. Police arrested more than 30, but there were no major acts of violence or vandalism reported.

Another rally is scheduled for November, the Boston Free Speech Coalition announced last month.

Photo by Jordan Presley, used with permission. A confederate flag burns at August's rally.