Joey Barton has apologised to Jeremy Vine and agreed to pay him £75,000 (Picture: Getty Images)
Joey Barton has apologised to Jeremy Vine and agreed to pay the broadcaster £75,000 in damages.
Barton will pay damages and all legal costs to settle a defamation claim over posts on social media, the former footballer said in a post on X.
The news comes after Vine, 58, sued Barton, 41, for calling him a ‘bike nonce’ on social media.
The BBC Radio 2 host filed a libel claim at London’s High Court with the former Newcastle United player named as the defendant.
Barton originally responded by launching a GoFundMe page to raise money for his legal fees and raised over £100,000.
The pair were long embroiled in an ongoing online feud that seems to have finally reached its end with Barton’s online apology.
He posted a long apology to X and took back his previous claims, writing: ‘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.
The former footballer has apologised to Vine (Picture: Getty Images)
‘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.’
The X post that Barton is referring to is a picture of Vine and disgraced TV presenter Rolf Harris that Barton shared with the caption: ‘Oh Jeremy Vine. Did you, Rolf-aroo and Schofield go out on a tandem bike ride? You big bike nonce ya!’
Vine and Barton’s online feud seems to have finally come to an end (Picture: Getty Images)
The following day he retweeted a picture of Vine cycling and once again called him a ‘bike nonce,’ adding: ‘If you see this fella by a primary school call 999.’
Barton is also facing legal action by ITV sports pundit Eni Aluko over a post he made about her family. He previously compared her and Lucy West to serial killers Fred and Rose West.
In January, he posted on X: ‘More has come to light about poor, little Eni Aluko. Dad was a Nigerian Senator. Dodgy money. Ran to England. Massive house in Wentworth. 3 Rolls Royce’s [sic]. St Mary’s in Ascot private education. Lawyer. Race card player.’
Aluko said the post was ‘untrue, inaccurate and defamatory’ and had caused her ‘extreme harm and distress.’
She also said she was left fearing for her safety following Barton’s posts about her on social media.
Commentator Eni Aluko is also suing Barton for his comments about her (Picture: Shutterstock)
ITV released a statement following Barton’s remarks about the female presenters that read: ‘For Joey Barton, an ex-professional player with a significant social media presence, to target two of our pundits, Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward, with such vindictive remarks based on gender and to invoke the names of serial killer in doing so is clearly contemptible and shameful on his part.’
In a video about the abuse she was facing online from Barton and his supporters, Aluko said: ‘My fear, actually, is that the next time this happens, if we don’t really put a stop to this, is that that girl or that woman kills herself.
‘I’m not being hyperbolic about that when I say that it’s happened. Caroline Flack, God rest her soul, killed herself, largely because of the online abuse that she was getting.
‘At what point are we going to understand that this needs to stop? Sexism, racism, misogyny is not an opinion. It’s not freedom of speech. It’s against the law. It’s as simple as that.’
ITV condemned Barton’s comments earlier this year (Picture: Kirsty O’Connor/PA Wire)
News of Vine’s legal action against Barton first came in January, when Barton posted a photo to X – which was swiftly deleted but seen by Metro.co.uk –that included a photograph of a pre-action letter denoting a claim for defamation and harassment.
The letter warned that the document was confidential and should not be made public in any way, or else it may lead to Vine seeking additional damages.
Barton shared the documents online anyways with a caption that read, ‘So @theJeremyVine is suing me,’ along with a series of crying-laughing emojis and the hashtag ‘#bikenonce.’
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