Terrell Owens Served Defamation Suit at Amazon Documentary Event

Terrell Owens was promoting a new Amazon documentary about his life and career when he was served a defamation lawsuit tied to a social media post that demanded the arrest of three friends of Nolan Wells, a Black college student who went missing in July and was later found dead.

The Hall of Fame wide receiver had been evading service of the lawsuit, attorney Edward Paltzik of Taylor Dykema PLLC, who is representing the plaintiffs, tells Front Office Sports. The suit was filed Oct. 5 in Mississippi federal court by the fathers of the three friends of Wells, all of whom are under 21 and therefore considered minors under Mississippi state law. 

Owens was served the lawsuit on Friday while he waited to sign autographs and “bask in the adulation of his fans” at a meet-and-greet at the Mocs Bookstore, the official bookstore of his alma mater, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, according to an X/Twitter post from Paltzik.

“No autograph required,” Paltzik wrote in his post. “Luck always runs out.”

A separate post showing a video of Owens being served has racked up more than 4.5 million views and 16,000 likes.

Owens responded on X/Twitter Sunday evening, saying “not worried” and “God is good.” His post included three emojis: a crying laughing face, thumbs up, and a person shrugging their shoulders. According to a summons filed Oct. 14, Owens has three weeks following service to formally respond to the lawsuit in court. A representative for Owens did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment on Monday.

The post from Owens that led to the lawsuit was made Sept. 26. It linked to an Instagram video from online talk show The Trent Out Loud Show, which called for the arrest of the three boys, as well as Mississippi’s District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath. The host said McIlrath “knows” that Wells’s three friends, who are white, “deleted things off of Nolan’s phone.” 

“ARREST THEM IMMEDIATELY!!” Owens wrote. “LIKE YESTERDAY!!”

The lawsuit describes the post as “false and malicious,” and says it features a “devastating and far-reaching defamatory statement about Plaintiffs.” The three minors being represented by their fathers in the case are Benjamin Warren Hudson Jr., Eli Jax Pitalo, and Morgan Seymour.

“The defamatory X post and the Trent Out Loud video both relate to the tragic and highly publicized death of plaintiffs’ dear friend Nolan Xavier Wells at Horn Island” on July 4, the complaint says.

“Nolan’s death was accidental and involved no criminal activity,” the suit says. “Yet, since that fateful and tragic day, conspiracy theorists, grifters, hoax peddlers, and other modern-day hucksters and plain liars have perpetuated the disgusting and false narrative that Warren, Jax, and Morgan somehow murdered Nolan and covered up this supposed heinous crime.”

The suit says Owens is one of many “bad actors” who have made public comments about the situation, “and one of the most famous such individuals.”

“Contrary to Owens’ defamatory X post, there was absolutely no evidence to prompt an arrest of the plaintiffs because they had done nothing wrong, and there was no probable cause to arrest plaintiffs because they had not committed a crime.”

It says the three boys have been subjected to “thousands” of death threats, in-person harassment, and “daily fear and ridicule from complete strangers.” They have also been “refused service at public establishments.” The suit, which does specify an amount of damages sought, includes two counts: defamation per se and false light invasion of privacy.

The Sept. 26 post was not the first time Owens had shown interest in the case. He previously offered a $25,000 reward for information “leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible” for Wells’s death. In July, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is also advising the Wells family, issued a statement saying he was “grateful” to Owens. Crump’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

McIlrath’s office issued a report Sept. 22, four days before the post from Owens, that said a grand jury had chosen not to bring any indictments and had exonerated Wells’s three friends. The report says there is “absolutely no evidence” that his death was “racially motivated.”

“Nolan’s friends loved Nolan, and Nolan loved them,” McIlrath said in a video released in conjunction with the report.