Football bad boy Joey Barton has agreed to pay Jeremy Vine £75,000 over Twitter posts in which he lied that the BBC presenter had a ‘sexual interest in children’ and supported forced vaccination during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Former Manchester City and England player Barton, 41, been forced to share an online apology to Vine – having previously used the platform to label him a ‘nonce’.
BBC Radio 2 host Vine, 59, launched legal action in response to the online taunt of ‘bike nonce’ made in January this year.
Barton, sacked as Bristol Rovers manager last October, has now confirmed his climbdown in a comment shared with his 2.8million followers on X, formerly Twitter.
He admitted responsibility for what he described as ‘defamation and harassment’.
Joey Barton, pictured arriving at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court in October 2022, has agreed to pay £75,000 in damages to BBC presenter Jeremy Vine
BBC Radio 2 host Vine is seen here attending the Royal Courts of Justice in London after bringing a libel claim against former England and Manchester City footballer Joey Barton
Barton, 41, has posted this apology to Vine today on X, formerly Twitter
Barton wrote this lunchtime: ‘Between 8 and 12 January 2024 I published 11 posts which accused Jeremy Vine of having a sexual interest in children, and created a hashtag which made the same allegations, which were viewed millions of times.
‘I recognise that this is a very serious allegation. It is untrue. I do not believe that Mr Vine has a sexual interest in children, and I wish to set the record straight.
‘I also published posts during the same period in which I referred to Mr Vine having advocated forced vaccination during the Covid 19 pandemic, based upon a video clip of his TV programme.
‘I accept that he did not advocate this policy and that the video clip has been edited to give a misleading impression of what he was in fact saying.
‘I then taunted and abused Mr Vine for bringing a legal complaint against me.
‘I have agreed not to make the same allegations again about Mr Vine and I apologise to him for the distress he has suffered.
‘To resolve his claims against me in defamation and harassment, I have agreed to pay Mr Vine £75,000 in damages and his legal costs.’
High Court judge Mrs Justice Steyn had ruled on May 24 that a social media post by Barton calling the broadcaster a ‘bike nonce’ was defamatory.