GEORGETOWN — A longtime Waccamaw High School teacher has filed a libel lawsuit against a Myrtle Beach blogger who accused her of making controversial social media posts about the Sept. 10 assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Marie Lawson, who teaches English at the Pawleys Island school, maintains her online comment was made in 2024 — more than 15 months before Kirk was killed — and she’s accused writer David Hucks and his website, myrtlebeachsc.com, of defaming her in stories and a Facebook post.
“Unless Plaintiff is clairvoyant or psychic, she could not possibly have posted comments related in any way to Kirk’s death more than a year before it occurred,” the Sept. 23 lawsuit states.
When asked if he had a response to the lawsuit, Hucks said in an email that he had not been served with the complaint and would be in North Carolina until Oct. 23. He did not address the complaint’s allegations.
Lawson’s attorney, William Hopkins Jr., could not be reached.
The lawsuit targets two of Hucks’ stories in the wake of Kirk’s death. The first, published Sept. 16, is headlined “Mic Drop, Controversial Comments Made by Ree Hanson Lawson, Waccamaw High English Teacher.”
“Ree Hanson Lawson is yet another teacher making controversial posts about the death of Christian Charlie Kirk,” the story begins. “[A] post of a mic drop from the Waccamaw High School teacher in the thread following news of Kirk’s assassination was placed on social media.”
In the story, Hucks highlights a Facebook post by Lawson’s close friend, Raiford King, that reads “Gods Don’t Kill People. People with Gods Kill People.” Lawson frequently comments on King’s satirical posts, and she left a mic drop meme under the post on June 9, 2024, according to the complaint.
“Defendants both stated directly and implied that the comment was in reaction to Kirk’s death which occurred over a year later,” the lawsuit states. “The article written and published by Defendants also stated directly and implied that Plaintiff was making ‘comments on Facebook posts applauding the assassination of Charlie Kirk.’ Plaintiff has never made, posted or published any comment in any way celebrating or applauding the murder of Charlie Kirk and this statement was false and defamatory.”
Hucks’ story also says Lawson “left disturbing reactions to awful posts about Christians.” The lawsuit describes that statement as defamatory, too.
Hucks’ outlet then shared the story on its Facebook page, referring to Lawson as a “woke area Waccamaw High School English teacher,” according to the complaint.
The following day, Hucks posted a second story headlined “South Carolina Superintendent of Education Responds to Waccamaw High School Teacher’s Facebook Post on Kirk.”
The story says Superintendent Ellen Weaver issued a statement in response to Lawson’s post, but Weaver’s general Sept. 16 memo did not mention Lawson by name “and there is no evidence suggesting her memo” was in response to the teacher’s social media comments, according to the complaint.
The second story notes that Hucks reached out to the high school’s principal and the county school board “regarding actions to be taken about Marie Lawson” and he listed the contact information for board members in the story.
“In truth, Marie Lawson works for the taxpayers of Georgetown County,” the story states.
An award-winning educator with 36 years of teaching experience, Lawson has worked for the Georgetown County School District for 19 years, according to court records. For the last 16 years, she has taught honors English and served as the speech and debate coach at Waccamaw High, where her students won multiple speech and debate championships.
Since Hucks’ stories were published, Lawson said she has received threats and harassment from strangers.
“Plaintiff is now in fear for her safety and that of her family,” the lawsuit states. “The Articles and posts have had the effect of reducing Plaintiff’s character reputation in the estimation of her friends, employer, school administrators, students, parents, acquaintances and the public, and have disgraced her and subjected her to negative scrutiny by her employer. Plaintiff’s husband was taken by ambulance and hospitalized three (3) days after the posts for an anxiety attack brought on by stress due to the harassment and threats.”
Along with damages, the lawsuit seeks an injunction requiring Hucks to remove the articles, issue corrections and publicly apologize.
Lawson’s complaint describes Hucks as someone who “holds himself out to the public as a ‘journalist’ and refers to himself as such on numerous websites and social media despite having no formal education in journalism.”
“Defendants have a pattern, practice and history of writing and publishing libelous and defamatory articles about people. The only way to stop continued libel and slander by Defendants is an award of punitive damages which will deter such conduct in the future,” Lawson’s lawsuit states.
This isn’t the first time Hucks has faced a defamation lawsuit.
In 2022, an Horry County businessman sued Hucks over coverage that he alleged had falsely accused him of participating in election fraud.