I Left A 1-star Google Review For A Contractor And Now He’s Threatening To Sue Me For Defamation Unless I Take It Down. What Am I Supposed To Do?

location: Texas, USA

I’m 29M and hired a small home repair contractor to do some basic work (replace a few interior doors, fix a section of baseboard, patch a couple drywall spots). Nothing fancy. We agreed in writing by text on the scope and a total price, and I paid a deposit through Zelle. He showed up late the first day, did maybe 2 hours of work, left a mess, and then kept rescheduling for almost three weeks. When he finally came back, the door he installed wouldn’t latch, the trim had gaps, and one patch job literally cracked the next day. I texted him photos and asked if he could come back to fix it. He replied with "that’s normal settling" and then stopped responding. After another week of no answer, I got someone else to fix the latch and redo the worst patch (I have a receipt for that). I didn’t ask for my deposit back because at that point I just wanted him gone, but I was annoyed and I left a Google review. I kept it factual: dates he missed, what was wrong, that I tried to contact him to make it right, and that I paid another person to repair some of it. I didn’t call him names, i didn’t say he’s a criminal, nothing like that.

Two days later he texts me from a new number and says if I don’t delete the review within 24 hours he’s "going to court for defamation" and "you’ll be paying way more than you think". He also claims I’m lying and that he has "before and after proof" (which, ok). Then he sent a screenshot of my review with my full name circled like he’s trying to scare me. I haven’t replied because i don’t want to accidentally say the wrong thing. My worry is: can he actually sue me just for leaving a bad review, and does it matter that it’s Google and not some private message? Should I respond at all, or ignore him unless I get served? Also, can he legally share my name and phone number around like that, because he keeps saying he’ll "post what really happened" and I have no idea what that means. I’m not trying to start a war, but I don’t like being bullied into taking down something that i think is true.