Rachel Maddow, MSNBC Sued For $50 Million Over On-Air Comments

Heavy-metal rocker turned radio host and conservative preacher Bradlee Dean is suing MSNBC and its host Rachel Maddow for allegedly defaming him in a segment. The lawsuit claims $50 million in damages and alleges that Maddow twisted Dean's comments in an effort to undermine Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann.

Dean leads a Minnesota-based Christian ministry and has been vocal about the threats posed by homosexuality. Last year, Dean went on radio and talked about Muslim Sharia law and his view that it called for the execution of homosexuals -- evidence, as he saw it, that Muslims were upholding biblical laws. "They seem to be more moral than even the American Christians do," he said. For a segment devoted to Minnesota politics and a boycott of Target Brands, Inc. for its political donations, Maddow took what Dean had to say and used it to paint him as anti-gay with the implication he advocated their execution, according to the suit.