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Sherrod sues conservative pundit for video

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- A former U.S. Agriculture Department employee forced to resign over what turned out to be a misleading video is suing the conservative blogger who posted it.

Shirley Sherrod's lawsuit filed in District of Columbia Superior Court on Friday accuses Andrew Breitbart of "defamation, false light and infliction of emotional distress," CNN reported Monday.

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Breitbart posted the video, which contained an out-of-context excerpt from speech Sherrod gave to the NAACP Freedom Fund last March that suggested that in her position at the Agriculture Department she had discriminated against white farmers, Salon.com reported.

In the ensuing flap, the NAACP denounced Sherrod and the Obama administration forced her to resign though the discrimination allegation proved to be untrue.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack later apologized to Sherrod and President Barack Obama called her, but Sherrod declined Vilsack's offer of her old position back or a newly created position as the USDA's deputy director of the Office of Advocacy and Outreach.

Sherrod suit says the clip "damaged her reputation and prevented her from continuing her work."

Breitbart denounced the suit, saying he "categorically rejects the transparent effort to chill his constitutionally protected free speech."

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"This lawsuit is not about politics or race," Sherrod said in a statement. "It is not about right versus left, the NAACP or the Tea Party. It is about how quickly, in today's Internet media environment, a person's good name can become 'collateral damage' in an overheated political debate."

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