A country artist has been ordered to pay $17.5 million to the family of a California teenager who went missing back in 2022 before being found deceased weeks later. It all started back in 2022 when 16-year-old Kiely Rodni went missing after leaving a party near a campground in Truckee, California, near Lake Tahoe. After a two-week search, Rodni’s vehicle was located inside a reservoir near where she went missing. The coroner ruled at the time that her cause of death was drowning and that the death was accidental, with the sheriff’s office releasing a statement confirming that no foul play was suspected: “This ruling is based on the pathologist’s finding that her death was the result of drowning and that there was no other information to suggest she was the victim of foul play.” Following her death, a lawsuit was filed against country artist Ryan Upchurch for videos he had posted on the case, including one during the time she was missing titled “ZERO proof of Kiely Rodni situation being REAL.” In the video, Upchurch says: “Do you realize that you can be a millionaire on GoFundMe by catfishing people with internet deaths? You could do it fast as f–k. Look at the Kiely Rodni GoFundMe. It’s made $63,000 in the past seven days. That’s one GoFundMe for Kiely Rodni. If you have five GoFundMe’s for each individual person that you catfish, fake a death with, all you need is three people. Three people. Three viral stories. You’re a millionaire in two weeks.” The lawsuit, filed by the teenager’s father David Rodni and grandfather Daniel Robertson, accused Upchurch of defamation, false light invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent infliction of emotional distress, while asking for unspecified damages including “damages to their reputation, financial losses, emotional distress, and punitive damages,” citing the artist’s “outrageous, intentional, reckless, and conscious-shocking tortious actions.” Upchurch filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that his statements in the videos were his opinions and that his speech was protected by the First Amendment: “All of Mr. Upchurch’s videos contain the same elements of drama, hyperbolic language, and heated debate that would certainly give the audience the impression Mr. Upchurch was not asserting objective fact. Mr. Upchurch is not presenting his statements with any indication of private and personal knowledge or authority on investigations.” The court, however, denied Upchurch’s motion to dismiss, and the case ultimately went to trial this past week. And yesterday, a Nashville jury found for Rodni’s family on all counts, awarding David Rodni and Daniel Robertson a total of $17.5 million in damages. Now, it’s likely that Upchurch will appeal the massive verdict, which presents First Amendment issues and requires a court to determine the line between free speech and defamation. It will also no doubt cause other “true crime” YouTubers to pause before releasing their own commentary, given the size of the verdict and the implications on free speech. The true crime space has become a popular one on social media, with plenty of amateur sleuths chiming in on big cases and giving their opinions and theories along with the facts. Just this past month, a TikTok psychic was ordered to pay millions of dollars to a University of Idaho professor who she accused of killing four students back in 2022. As the true crime space explodes, cases like this are no doubt going to continue to pop up to test the limits of what creators are allowed to say, how much they can speculate, and where the speculation crosses into defamation. I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens on appeal to find out for sure where that line is.The post Country Artist Ordered To Pay $17.5 Million To Family Of Deceased California Teenager first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Thanking his musical mother but not his biological mother. Ella Langley was the shining star of the night as she broke the record for the most ACM Awards won in a single night, and the most won in two consecutive years, with a staggering 12 to her name. And while Alabama was well represented with her, Riley Green, and the Red Clay Strays taking home honors, Texas country artists really showed up and showed out at the awards, having a huge night. Cody Johnson took home the coveted Entertainer of the Year award, and Miranda Lambert won Single of the Year and Song of the Year as a songwriter on “Choosin’ Texas,” and the Limestone Kid Parker McCollum took home his third-ever ACM Award for Album of the Year. Despite the buzz surrounding Zach Top’s Ain’t In It For My Health, which won the first-ever Best Traditional Country Album at the Grammys and Album of the Year at the CMA Awards, and Morgan Wallen’s I’m The Problem, which shattered multiple Billboard records upon its release, it was none other than Parker McCollum, who took home Album of the Year last night with his stellar self-titled album. This win was a huge personal testament for McCollum as it really pushed him creatively and almost broke him. McCollum previously revealed that, as he was preparing for his 2025 self-titled album, he completely lost the creative spark he had throughout his career. “I was kind of desperate. To be 100% honest, I was about to walk away about 18 months ago. I was about to hang it up completely. Man, I had just kind of lost the buzz creatively, and I had been touring nonstop since I was 22 years old. Creatively, I was like, I got nothing.” As he alluded to in the past, the self-titled album, which has been hailed by many as his best album since The Limestone Kid, was his last-ditch effort to feel something creatively. Noting that if he was truly going to quit, he wanted to go out with a bang. “I had a conversation with some people in my circle about it. I kinda got to the point where I was like, ‘Well, if I’m gonna hang it up, go make one more record with just zero f***** given. Just do it 100% exactly, whatever the hell comes out is what the record is.” The end result was not only loved by fans but by critics, making this an extremely emotional win for the Texas native. When McCollum got up on the stage to accept the award, he was truly at a loss for words. As he was going through his thank yous, he gave a very special shoutout to God and his wife: “Hallie Ray, my beautiful wife who is so pregnant right now… They ought to give you one of these with your name on it for what you’ve done for my life, and to anything that I’m involved in. (It’s) better because of you. I love you.” And at the end of his speech, McCollum also thanked all of his fellow Red Dirt and Texas country music friends and family, including Cody Johnson, Koe Wetzel, Pat Green, and Miranda Lambert, to name a few. While I thought that shoutout was very sweet and a good shoutout to all the other talented Texas-born stars, Parker McCollum was kicking himself after getting offstage for shouting out all those folks but not thanking his mom and dad. In a hilarious moment backstage, Parker McCollum bumped into Miranda and exchanged a few words, where McCollum again thanked her. Miranda Lambert then said that he didn’t need to thank her, to which McCollum insisted he did: “I did, though. I forgot to thank my parents, but I thanked Miranda Lambert.”  In true Miranda Lambert fashion, she had the perfect response and replied: “It’s the same thing.”  HA. I mean… she’s not wrong. A musical mother and mentor, if you will. Miranda Lambert has seen many of these young stars turn into husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, and grow in their musical sound and career. In recent years, she has really taken a significant role as a mentor in the country music world, shepherding young talents like Parker, Ella Langley, Lainey Wilson and others. Parker McCollum might have forgotten to thank his parents, but I am sure they felt the love, and honestly, his tender words to his wife make up for not shouting out mom and dad on that stage. Check it out: @shitmirandasays A sweet moment between @Miranda Lambert and @parkermccollum at #ACMawards ♬ Hell of a Year – Parker McCollum Take a look at his entire speech while you’re here: The post Parker McCollum Says He Forgot To Thank His Parents After Winning ACM Album Of The Year, But Thanked Miranda Lambert: “It’s The Same Thing” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

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