Big hugs

Once in every billion tweets or so, a man will go so much too far that it bites him in the ass.

Northern Ireland First Minister Arlene Foster has been awarded £125,000 in damages after a defamatory tweet by TV presenter Dr Christian Jessen. Dr Jessen tweeted an unfounded claim that the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader had been having an extra-marital affair on 23 December 2019. The post remained online until Dr Jessen deleted it on 7 January 2020.

A judge at the High Court in Belfast said it was an “outrageous libel” which was “grossly defamatory”.

He ordered Dr Jessen, who is best known for presenting Channel Four programme Embarrassing Bodies, to pay damages of £125,000 and Mrs Foster’s legal costs.

The judge also addressed the fact that Dr Jessen failed to respond to warnings from Mrs Foster’s lawyer – which became the subject of mainstream media coverage. “The offending tweet remained on the defendant’s Twitter account for two weeks, a Twitter account with 311,000 followers,” he said.

“The tweet was liked approximately 3,500 times and it was retweeted 517 times. “This outrageously bad libel cut [Mrs Foster] to the core, causing her considerable upset, distress, humiliation, embarrassment and hurt.”

So what’s the nice doctor up to?

https://twitter.com/DoctorChristian/status/1398254510200393740

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