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Free Speech

Influencer Haley Kalil's Remarks About Ex-Husband Matt Kalil's Penis Size Were "Newsworthy," and Thus Not Tortious

Because her comments came in describing her marriage and her divorce, she "was discussing her life, not Matt's, and the law generally protects a person's speech about herself, even though such speech inevitably reveals details about others."

Eugene Volokh | 9.17.2026 5:10 PM

[UPDATE: An anonymous correspondent writes, "I've known some guys who thought their penis size was newsworthy but I never thought I'd see the idea taken seriously in a judicial opinion."]

From Judge Patrick Schiltz (D. Minn.) today in Kalil v. Kalil:

Plaintiff Matt Kalil ("Matt"), a former professional football player, and defendant Haley Kalil ("Haley"), a popular social-media content creator, used to be married…. As of January 6, 2026, Haley had 15.9 million TikTok followers, 9.3 million Instagram followers, 8.07 million YouTube subscribers, 1.6 million Snapchat followers, and 1.3 million Threads followers. Following her rise to fame, Haley hosted the pre-Met Gala red carpet for E! News and secured similar gigs at the Tony and Academy Awards; collaborated with stars such as the Jonas Brothers, Courtney Cox, and Ed Sheeran; was nominated for a "Streamy Award" for a sketch featuring actor Jared Leto; made Time Magazine's list of Top 100 Creators 2025; and spoke at the 2025 Creator Marketing Summit.

In November 2025, fellow social-media content creator Marlon Lundgren Garcia collaborated with Haley on a livestream on the Twitch platform ("the livestream"). At the time this lawsuit was filed, Garcia had 1.5 million Twitch followers, 3.7 million Instagram followers, 4.6 million TikTok followers, and 766,000 YouTube subscribers. Haley joined Garcia in person in Minnesota, as part of Garcia's "Mar-Athon" challenge to visit all 50 states in 28 days. The livestream was uploaded to YouTube and memorialized in a video titled "I Opened Up To Haylee Baylee."

During the livestream, Garcia and Haley sat across from one another at a small table in Garcia's recreational vehicle, and the two discussed, among other things, Haley's marriage and divorce. Without using Matt's name, Haley said that she and her (only) ex-husband are "still friends," that he is the "greatest guy in the world," and that he is "doing good" and is remarried with a baby. Although Haley and Matt had been "best friends," Haley explained, he wanted kids, and she was not ready. She noted that the two had "a couple other issues" that led to the decision to end their marriage.

After Garcia asked Haley a few more questions about her marriage and its dissolution, Haley typed a private message to Garcia into her phone—ostensibly to put the reasons for her divorce "into perspective." As she typed, Haley remarked that Garcia's face was "going to be hilarious" when he read the message. After reading the private message, Garcia thrice repeated "shut the fuck up." Haley, nodding and smiling, said that she was being serious and that she tried "it all …. [t]herapists, doctors," even investigating "lipo type of shit." Haley joked that her "life is a comedy and it writes itself," and confirmed that the issue described in the private message was "the biggest factor" in the divorce.

As Garcia and Haley continued to talk, it quickly became obvious that Haley was referring to the size of Matt's penis. "[H]e's like 0.01 percent of the population, okay," Haley said, adding that "[w]e tried everything … you're going to be in tears type........

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