On Tuesday, DeRay Mckesson filed a defamation lawsuit against Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, for her commentary following the activist's arrest at a protest in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In the wake of the deadly shooting of Alton Sterling, activists rallied in peaceful protest to call for an end to what had become a constant stream of documented incidents of police brutality and killing of unarmed black men.

We watched with bated breath as McKesson was aggressively snatched up by officers.

Along with 185 other protesters who were allegedly harassed and/or arrested during the protest, McKesson filed a lawsuit against the Baton Rouge police, reaching a settlement of $136,000. In response to that action, an anonymous officer filed a separate suit against McKesson and "Black Lives Matter" activists, alleging that he was hit in the face by a rock thrown by a protester. The was later tossed out by a Louisiana federal judge.

In the midst of all the back and forth, Pirro made a false on-air claim about the incidents leading up to the arrest. “In this particular case, Deray Mckesson, the organizer, actually was directing people, was directing the violence,” Pirro said on “Fox and Friends” after the judge's ruling. “You’ve got a police officer who was injured, he was injured at the direction of DeRay McKesson. DeRay Mckesson walks away with a hundred thousand dollars, for an organization that is amorphous, we got a problem in this country.”

Mckesson's claim states that the anchor's comments put his life and safety in danger. “Pirro made these false statements of fact on the highest viewed morning cable show in the country, ‘Fox & Friends,’ which reaches over 1.7 million viewers,” Mckesson’s suit reads. “These statements of fact are false, and were either known to be false by Defendant Pirro or were made with reckless disregard for whether they were true.”

Mckesson is suing for damages to be determined at trial. Fox News said it will fight the suit.

Black-lives-matterDeRay-McKessonFOX-newsJeanine Pirro