Le Freak, C'est Bleak: Graham Linehan Is Still a Transphobe

[Juan K Perros]

Seems like Jimmy Mulville's 200k might have been kinda handy right about now.

[phes]

It's he loses as seems likely, he's still got £140k in the pocket from his begging and I'll be surprised if people don't cough up to cover much of the full cost

[Pimhole]

One reason why I have rejected the Defendant's case, in respect of this publication and others, that the statements complained of are expressions of opinion, is that I do not accept his apparent premise. He appears to suggest that statements about someone's personality or the quality of their actions are (or perhaps are inherently likely to be) expressions of opinion. But very many allegedly defamatory statements will concern the claimant's personality or the quality of their conduct. That in itself will not suffice to render the statement an expression of opinion. The authorities show that even highly value-laden terms can be used to convey factual allegations. It all depends on the context as to whether the reasonable reader will understand that they are being told a matter of established fact or whether they will recognise they are seeing the subjective view of the writer about a person's character or conduct. I accept that this can pose problems for writers who return to the same subject repeatedly: there is a tendency for statements that may have started out as recognisable opinion to be condensed over time and reduced to a shorthand formulation that strikes readers of later articles as pure assertions of established fact. However, it is the particular statement complained of that must be looked at (in its proper context) so the fact that a defendant may have made the same allegation by way of comment on another occasion will not assist if the statement under consideration would strike the reader as factual in nature.

He did it to himself, lol. And he's not the only one. Many other GCs might want to look at whether they have been swinging "what may have started as" opinions around as facts.

They sit on their substacks and twitter echo-chambers and Mumsnet and repeat the same bullshit to each other so often that they get this distorted view that it's all real.

Incidentally, I do feel bad all over again for Paisley reading some of this, that he's still being dragged through all this so many years later. He seems like a really nice guy.

[BennyHedgehog]

It's he loses as seems likely, he's still got £140k in the pocket from his begging and I'll be surprised if people don't cough up to cover much of the full cost

A bunch of that will have gone already on his own costs.

Didn't he say he was already £70k in at some point?

[‘Orrible Cockney Villain]

A bunch of that will have gone already on his own costs.

Didn't he say he was already £70k in at some point?

Yeah, for some reason he's engaged a KC and a second barrister so his costs aren't going to be insignificant.

Paisley seems to be just making do with a single, non KC barrister.

[kalowski]

It's he loses as seems likely, he's still got £140k in the pocket from his begging and I'll be surprised if people don't cough up to cover much of the full cost

Think I might defame someone just so I can start a Go Fund Me.

[phes]

Splendid. Hope he's absolutely ruined

[Pimhole]

WAF makes an appearance from para 67

Paisley had complained about WAFs comments effectively being published by Glinner, but the decision was that these couldn't be included in the case as it's not clear to the judge the context in which they were made in

William "I'd hit it" Ferguson? That William Ferguson?

It's a shame that gets thrown out just because the judge doesn't know what The Top of the Pops is or whatever. It was published by GL (on his platform) and there's no evidence that he was the one who removed it, but there IS evidence that he was fully aware of it. Also, the subtext of the comment is "well you've already said this in so many words, but I'm going to say it more baldly*", so it does shore up the "conclusions any reasonable reader may come to" argument about Linehan's own writing.

*intended

[Better Midlands]

He'll be able crowdfund any costs in the end though won't he?

"All I said is men can't be women, donate here"

[BennyHedgehog]

Yeah, maybe

I suspect it may be harder; this can't be spun as someone getting punished for merely refusing to lie that a man is a women. I suspect his nasty behaviour may make it less palatable to the type of people who donate to these things

We'll see!

[magister]

Think I might defame someone just so I can start a Go Fund Me.

I think that was pretty much Are Graham's reasoning.

[BennyHedgehog]

Yeah, for some reason he's engaged a KC and a second barrister so his costs aren't going to be insignificant.

Paisley seems to be just making do with a single, non KC barrister.

Ah no, Paisley's costs were 70k back in 2022

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/help-me-2/

Funny that his crowdfunding page also defames Paisley

[extraordinary walnuts]

Pretty amusing to see this pointless Twitter beef dissected over 100 pages of legalese

"What is a...  'mid wit'"?

[daf]

He'll be able crowdfund any costs in the end though won't he?

"All I said is men can't be women, donate here"

JK Funding

[dead-ced-dead]

The Islamophobia from the TERFs seems to be a recent development. It's all part of the ever shrinking transparency that they're all right wing.

I've mentioned me ma on here before being a big ol' TERF and she made several quite Islamophobic comments while I was there which was... new. Especially surprising since just two years ago she had a Muslim lad from Pakistan stay in her spare bedroom as she hosts students attending the local university. That would be unthinkable now.

She actually made some rude comments about this lad when I was over last.

"Oh, Omar enjoyed his time here, which is good, because you never can tell with those lads... you know, I was worried he may have turned violent."

[Better Midlands]

I've mentioned me ma on here before being a big ol' TERF and she made several quite Islamophobic comments while I was there which was... new.

Has dropped one of these yet?

[Pimhole]

I would fucking LOVE for some of Rowling's money to end up in Paisley's bank account, but I don't reckon she will ever donate to... this.

Here's another good bit, the judge having to explain how Substack works to a cunt who's gone bananas.

[‘Orrible Cockney Villain]

Yeah, maybe

I suspect it may be harder; this can't be spun as someone getting punished for merely refusing to lie that a man is a women. I suspect his nasty behaviour may make it less palatable to the type of people who donate to these things

We'll see!

I agree, crowdfunding for this might be harder for him. For the reasons you mention, and because as we've seen recently there have been a few more people speaking out against him (usually due to who he's chummy with, eg Rudy and Arty). He seems very unlikely to attract a last minute mystery donation of £50k from an anonymous woman in Edinburgh too.

[waste of chops]

The Defendant pleads that "Baby needs shoes!"

[dead-ced-dead]

Has dropped one of these yet?

Not that specifically, but she does mythologise the working class and romanticise them in similar ways.

[idunnosomename]

laughed so hard at this i started crying

[Two Headed Sex Beast]

The Islamophobia from the TERFs seems to be a recent development. It's all part of the ever shrinking transparency that they're all right wing.

They also overlap in their belief that they are protecting women and girls. It's what Islamophobes and racist claim too; in their position it's about protecting them as property, as an idea of weak femininity that must be protected by big strong (straight, white, manly) men. Very similar to how GCs talk really. So the overlap is not surprising.

[BennyHedgehog]

laughed so hard at this i started crying

That has me going as well :D If it had had the clown emoji in there somewhere I think I would have died: NEWS FR🤡M CL🤡WNW🤡RLD

[phes]

laughed so hard at this i started crying

Thank you for the highlights. As mentioned up-thread, this stuff embedded in legalese is page 99 tier Linelore

[Grunt Work]

Didn't know David Cann was a proper Big Racist.  Wonder if the reason he was so good on Jam was down to him being a proper weird cunt in all aspects of his life

Do that to much it'll swing right up your arse

[Kankurette]

Interesting how the right only take an interest in class solidarity when the far right are concerned. The people of Southport showed plenty of working class solidarity but the likes of Linehan don't care because they think all white working class people are angry violent racists.

The Islamophobia from the TERFs seems to be a recent development. It's all part of the ever shrinking transparency that they're all right wing.

I've mentioned me ma on here before being a big ol' TERF and she made several quite Islamophobic comments while I was there which was... new. Especially surprising since just two years ago she had a Muslim lad from Pakistan stay in her spare bedroom as she hosts students attending the local university. That would be unthinkable now.

She actually made some rude comments about this lad when I was over last.

"Oh, Omar enjoyed his time here, which is good, because you never can tell with those lads... you know, I was worried he may have turned violent."

They briefly pretended they liked Muslims when they could claim that trans women were being disrespectful to Muslim women by sharing pools with them.

[McDead]

It'll be a splendid day when this grifter fuck has to get himself a real job. Can just imagine him down the Kwik Fit, sizing up a rusting wheel arch while whistling speculatively, then apprehending the customer with a sotto voce "so what about these puberty blockers, then"

[BennyHedgehog]

Not sure if this was mentioned already but David McBride also lost his employment tribunal.

He sounds like an utter nightmare and proof, again, that you're entitled to your beliefs but you're not entitled to act like a complete cunt because of them

News piece
https://archive.ph/2024.08.01-012015/https://www.thetimes.com/article/gender-row-civil-servant-loses-unfair-dismissal-claim-bgnfnlpw3

Judgement
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66a89a03ab418ab055592f44/K_McBride_V_The_Scottish_Ministers_-_4102841-2023_-_Judgment.pdf

[dissolute ocelot]

Surely he's going to have to cave in and settle with Paisley now with a big load of money and a grovelling apology. Surely? The whole point of the libel process is to stop things going to full trial.

He can't seriously be planning to go to court with a folder of computer print-outs and a line-up of Terfy witnesses, trying to prove (section 102) that Paisley is a serial harasser and misogynist who "seeks to normalise adult nudity in the presence of children"? Or that the opinion claims are honest opinion in conformance with facts ("there is a real possibility that he may be a paedophile", etc)?

If it does go to trial and he loses he is going to be considerably poorer, and we may gain some amusement, but I'm sure it's better for Paisley if Linehan settles now.

[BennyHedgehog]

Joey Barton didn't

https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/may/24/joey-barton-calling-jeremy-vine-a-bike-nonce-was-defamatory-judge-rules


Same with Lawrence Fox.

https://www.doughtystreet.co.uk/news/preliminary-issues-judgment-defamatory-tweets

Both cases had this initial trial of preliminary items and both of those idiots decided to plough on