{"id":990468,"date":"2021-11-09T15:58:55","date_gmt":"2021-11-09T20:58:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=990468"},"modified":"2021-11-09T15:59:02","modified_gmt":"2021-11-09T20:59:02","slug":"van-morrison-sued-by-northern-ireland-health-minister-for-libel-over-anti-lockdown-remarks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/van-morrison-sued-by-northern-ireland-health-minister-for-libel-over-anti-lockdown-remarks\/","title":{"rendered":"Van Morrison Sued by Northern Ireland Health Minister for Libel Over Anti-Lockdown Remarks"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fvan-morrison-sued-by-northern-ireland-health-minister-for-libel-over-anti-lockdown-remarks%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=990468&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GettyImages-85151795-2-640x335-1.png\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">Rock icon Van Morrison is being sued for libel by the Health Minister of Northern Ireland after the singer called him \u201cdangerous\u201d over his coronavirus lockdown policies.<\/p>\n<p>The Health Minister for the British province, Robin Swann has officially launched legal proceedings against Van Morrison and the case is expected to be heard at the High Court early next year. The suit stems from the <em>Brown-Eyed Girl<\/em> singer calling the minister \u201cvery dangerous\u201d at a dinner back in June.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>Mr Swann\u2019s legal team is expected to argue that Sir Van\u2019s comments had harmed his reputation by suggesting that he was unfit for office and had endangered the public with this lockdown policies.<\/p>\n<p>While it is almost unheard of for a government official to sue a member of the public in the United States for libel, the laws surrounding such cases are much stricter in Britain, where speech is far more regulated.<\/p>\n<p>Morrison\u2019s solicitor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-northern-ireland-59196696\">told<\/a> the BBC that the singer \u201cregrets that&nbsp;Mr Swann considered it necessary to issue&nbsp;proceedings\u201d.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"6.8035714285714\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Delingpole: Van Morrison Attacks \u2018Fascist Bullies\u2019 In Anti-Lockdown Protest Songs <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/H9xp0ETYD3\">https:\/\/t.co\/H9xp0ETYD3<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreitbartLondon\/status\/1306969728490102784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 18, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The lawsuit, which makes three allegations of libel, also includes&nbsp;an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk\/video-news\/van-morrison-approached-by-sunday-life-reporter-over-rant-against-swann-40532028.html\">interview<\/a> with the <em>Belfast Telegraph\u2019s Sunday Life<\/em>&nbsp;in June, Morisson said that he didn\u2019t regret calling Mr Swann dangerous, saying \u201cof course, he\u2019s dangerous\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s a fraud, I believe he\u2019s a fraud. Why should I regret it?\u201d he questioned.<\/p>\n<p>Sir Van went on to say: \u201cHe called me dangerous and I\u2019m calling him dangerous,\u201d referring to an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/van-morrison-coronavirus-robin-swann-1063900\/\">interview<\/a> the Health Minister gave with <em>Rolling Stone<\/em> magazine, in which Swann chastised the anti-lockdown rocker for giving \u201ccomfort to the conspiracy theorists\u201d and \u201ctin foil hat brigade who crusade against masks and vaccines and think this is all a huge global plot to remove freedoms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Belfast Telegraph<\/em> then <a href=\"https:\/\/www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk\/sunday-life\/news\/robin-swann-instructs-top-lawyer-paul-tweed-to-sue-van-morrison-for-libel-for-calling-him-dangerous-41025332.html\">alleged<\/a> that Morrison told their reporter to \u201cfuck off\u201d, adding:&nbsp; \u201cI can\u2019t hear you with a mask on, you fucking idiot.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p><strong><em>Watch below:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"For Clarity\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/n6UQTLg91GU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p>The third charge of libel concerns remarks made on Sir Van\u2019s YouTube channel, including a video entitled \u201cFor Clarity\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>In the video, Morrison repeated his claim that the Heath Minister was dangerous and chastised Swann for getting \u201cmixed up\u201d in his business after he released a series of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/europe\/2020\/09\/18\/van-morrison-attacks-fascist-bullies-in-anti-lockdown-protest-songs\/\">anti-lockdown songs<\/a> directed at the British government.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m a UK citizen. I live in the UK, work in the UK and pay my taxes in the UK,\u201d he said expressing his shock that a government official would target him personally.<\/p>\n<p>Sir Van, an ardent opponent of lockdown restrictions, had previously launched legal action against the ban by the local government in Northern Ireland on live music to supposedly stem the spread of the Chinese coronavirus. He later dropped the suit in August after the ban was lifted.<\/p>\n<p>If Morrison loses the libel case at the High Court in February, he could potentially face a hefty legal bill on top of hundreds of thousands in damages paid to Mr Swann.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KurtZindulka\">@KurtZindulka<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rock icon Van Morrison is being sued for libel by the Health Minister of Northern Ireland after the singer called him \u201cdangerous\u201d over his coronavirus lockdown policies. The Health Minister &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-990468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=990468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=990468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=990468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=990468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}