Frankie Boyle wins £54k libel payout after being branded racist by newspaper

London: Comedian Frankie Boyle has been awarded more than 54,000 pounds in damages after a High Court jury found that he had been libelled by a newspaper which described him as “racist.”

The jury concluded that Boyle, 40, from Glasgow, had been defamed by the Daily Mirror, the Daily Mail reported. After the verdict, the comedian gave a V-for-Victory sign on the court steps and revealed that he would be donating the money to charity. Boyle said that he filed the lawsuit because he had always “made a point” of being “anti-racist.” He had claimed that a Daily Mirror article published on July 19 last year defamed him by describing him as “Racist comedian Frankie Boyle,” adding that he had been “forced to quit” BBC panel show ‘Mock The Week.’ Daily Mirror publisher Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) defended the article, arguing that the “racist” description was either true or “honest comment on a matter of public interest.” MGN also argued that the words “forced to quit” did not mean that Boyle had been sacked and were not defamatory. Boyle was awarded 50,400-pound damages for the “racist” assertion and a further 4,250 pounds in relation to the claim that he was “forced to quit” the BBC show. Boyle was also awarded legal costs, estimated to be in the region of 100,000 pounds. ANI