James A. Byrne U.S. Courthouse in Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA – A college softball coach who resigned out of fears for her safety is suing the family she says stoked public outrage to an Instagram post regarding the assassination of conservative figure Charlie Kirk.
Stefanie Feinstein filed suit Feb. 11 in Philadelphia federal court against the Mercadante family, which includes a former player of Feinstein’s at Immaculata University. She says they tipped off the university to her social-media post then started a petition to have her fired and is suing for defamation.
“The entire petition is defamatory in that it asserts that Plaintiff had made multiple statements glorifying violence, all of which is false and intended to and did result in Plaintiff being held up to scorn, ridicule and hatred,” the suit says.
“The petition is libelous on its face. It clearly exposed Plaintiff to, and did, in fact result in hatred, contempt, threats, ridicule and obloquy because it falsely accuses Plaintiff of making statements glorifying violence.”
Kirk founded Turning Point USA to advocate his views on college campuses but was shot and killed on Sept. 10 in Utah. Feinstein was not familiar with Kirk prior to his death but in reading media coverage of the murder formed “a negative opinion of him due to his positions related to women, minorities and the LGBTQ community.”
That night, she shared a post on Instagram that said Kirk was not to be grieved, as he was a “racist, homophobic, transphobic, misogynistic, xenophobic hateful bigot.” It added, “I don’t wish death upon any person, even Charlie Kirk. This isn’t a time for celebration.”
Former Immaculata player Emma Mercadante messaged Feinstein the following morning to object. Feinstein took the post down and replaced it with another apologizing for those offended “but I will not mourn for him.”
At 9:30 a.m., Immaculata’s athletic director reminded Feinstein not to discuss politics at practice, which she says she had never done. She hadn’t learned of Kirk’s death until after the previous day’s practice.
She was informed someone had taken a screenshot of the first post and shared it. That was Emma, the suit says, and a text from Gerald Mercadante advised her to resign. Feinstein says Gerald carried a “personal animus” from when Emma wasn’t named all-conference while playing for her.
Then came a petition that received more than 100 signatures that Feinstein said was started by Emma’s stepmother Sheri. On Sept. 12, a threat on Facebook worried Feinstein into calling police, which agreed to keep a patrol on her while on campus.
Feinstein resigned while complaints rolled in.
“Plaintiff is aware of the studies that show the tendency of right-wing people to engage in political violence,” the suit says.
“That, coupled with the threat posted on Facebook, convinced Plaintiff that her continued presence on Immaculata’s campus created a danger to herself and others.”
Steven Feinstein of Rovner, Allen, Rovner and Sigman represents Stefanie Feinstein.
