Jeremy Vine has filed a defamation claim against Joey Barton following a series of comments he made towards the Channel 5 and BBC Radio 2 presenter on X, formerly Twitter.
The pair have been involved in social media spats frequently over the past few months but now Vine has taken legal action.
The 58-year-old is suing Barton for libel after being branded a “bike n***e” by the former QPR and Manchester City footballer.
Vine is also seeking action after Barton accused him of spreading lies about the Covid jab, reports the Sun.
In one of the posts that is understood to be at the centre of the case, Barton suggested Vine was friends with paedophiles Rolf Harris and Jimmy Savile.
Barton has also shared a post that warned followers to “call 999” if they saw Vine “by a primary school” on his bike.
Joey Barton is being sued for his social media comments
PA
It hasn’t been made public how much Barton, 41, is being sued for.
The former football player-turned-managed is also yet to submit any documents in his defence, it’s been reported.
Barton returned to X to address the legal action pursued by Vine, who regularly uses his social media platform to highlight the dangers of being a cyclist in London.
Alongside a photo of what appears to be legal documents, Barton penned: “So @theJeremyVine is suing me… Fella who served me the papers was sound.” (sic)
Eni Aluko is also suing Joey Barton
Getty
Vine is the second public figure to sue Barton for his remarks on social media, following in the footsteps of pundit Eni Aluko.
Barton has vocally criticised female football pundits in recent months, suggesting they shouldn’t be part of coverage for the men’s game and even drawing comparisons to serial killers Fred and Rose West.
Aluko is suing him after an online attack on her family in which he made a series of claims about her late father and called her a “race card player”.
Aluko took to Instagram to issue a lengthy statement about Barton’s remarks, explaining: “Joey Barton recently published a Post on X which made untrue, inaccurate and defamatory allegations about me and my family.
Jeremy Vine is suing Joey Barton
GETTY
“It is particularly harmful that Mr Barton involved my family in that post, suggesting my late father, a distinguished Nigerian senator, was in receipt of ‘dodgy money’ and that I had benefitted from his corruption which paid for my lavish lifestyle including Rolls Royce cars and a private education. Mr Barton also publicly stated he knew where my family lived.
“These, and the other allegations he made in the post, are all entirely untrue and have caused me extreme harm and distress. These were made just days after I stated publicly that I was genuinely scared, following Mr Barton’s repeated online posts targeting me using extreme violent comparisons in previous weeks.
“I have instructed Judith Thompson at Samuel’s Solicitors, as well as Sara Mansoori KC and Ifeanyi Odogwu at Matrix Chambers to send a letter before action to Mr Barton setting out the true position and requesting that the post on X be taken down.
“Instead of taking down his post, Mr Barton published a post today mischaracterising my legal complaint with a photograph of my letter of claim, causing further abuse of me, and my legal advisers.
“While he has now removed that post, it has been necessary to make this statement to set out the correct position.” (sic)
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