TV presenter Dr Christian Jessen has launched an online fundraising appeal to help him pay £125,000 (€145,000) in damages to the North’s First Minister Arlene Foster after posting a defamatory tweet making unfounded claims she was having an extramarital affair.
Dr Jessen, best known for his appearances on Channel 4’s Embarrassing Bodies, claims he doesn’t have the money, and faces going bankrupt as he was “down to my last £20,000”.
At the High Court in Belfast last week, Mr Justice Gerry McAlinden accepted that the false tweet by the celebrity doctor had cut Mrs Foster “to the core”.
The ex-DUP leader sued Dr Jessen for a tweet he posted on December 23rd, 2019, making the false allegation of an affair to his 300,000-plus followers.
The tweet remained online until Dr Jessen deleted it on January 7th, 2020.
Over the weekend, Dr Jessen launched an online fundraising appeal on the GoFundMe website to help pay the “substantial” libel damages and Mrs Foster’s legal costs.
As of Sunday, he had raised £4,815 of a £150,000 target.
“I am considering an appeal and I am seeking to raise funds to help me to fight what is a most unfair situation,” he said on the website.
Bankruptcy
Speaking to the Sunday Life newspaper, Dr Jessen said he was “down to my last £20,000 and that won’t last long”.
“I don’t have the money, so if the crowdfunding doesn’t work, I may have to declare myself bankrupt,” he said.
Dr Jessen said he deeply regretted the false tweet and was “also sorry for causing her any hurt”, but claimed the damages awarded against him were “just harsh in comparison to other judgments.”
In his ruling, Mr Justice McAlinden described the tweet as “grossly defamatory”.
Giving evidence last month, Mrs Foster told the court she was left humiliated by the unfounded rumour of an affair with a close protection officer which “trashed” her 25-year marriage.
Speaking outside the High Court, her solicitor Paul Tweed described the damages as “a record award for a tweet” and a “watershed for all women in public life who have been subjected to similar attacks on social media”.
