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29th January 2024
05:13pm GMT
Joey Barton has deleted a tweet in which he claimed that Eniola Aluko was trying to sue him.
The disgraced former footballer and manager has been widely criticised in recent months for his continuous attempts to try and undermine female sports commentators.
Aluko in particular has faced a barrage of criticism from Barton, who compared the former England women's international and fellow ITV commentator Lucy ward to serial killers Fred and Rose West as well as dictators Joseph Stalin and Pol Pot after Crystal Palace's FA Cup game against Everton.
On Monday, Barton claimed in a post on X - that has since been deleted - that Aluko was suing him for “untrue, inaccurate and defamatory allegations” he made on January 19.
He posted a screenshot of an Instagram post from a law firm claiming that Aluko was suing him for defamation, alongside pictures of letters detailing the same information.
Underneath the post he added: "Another day. Another letter from Samuel’s Solicitors.
"Eni Aluko now joining Jeremy Vine and suing me for saying she’s not very good at her job. Interesting that they both are using the same solicitors. What kind of legal firm sends you Instagram messages? Jokers."
Meanwhile in a statement posted to her account on Monday, Aluko confirmed she would be taking legal action.
She wrote: "Joey Barton recently published a Post on X which made untrue, inaccurate and defamatory allegations about me and my family.
"It is particularly harmful that Mr Barton involved my family in that post, suggesting my late father, a distinguished Nigerian senator, was in receipt of 'dodgy money' and that I had benefitted from his corruption which paid for my lavish lifestyle including Rolls Royce cards and a private education. Mr Barton also publicly stated he knew where my family lived.
"These, and the other allegations he made in the post, are all entirely untrue and have caused me extreme harm and distress. These were made just days after I stated publicly that I was genuinely scared, following Mr Barton's repeated online posts targeting me using extreme violent comparisons in previous weeks.
"I have instructed Judith Thompson at Samuel's Solicitors, as well as Sara Mansoori KC and Ifeanyi Odogwu at Matrix Chambers to send a letter before action to Mr Barton setting out the true position and requesting that the post on X be taken down.
"Instead of taking down his post, Mr Barton published a post today mischaracterising my legal complaint with a photograph of my letter of claim, causing further abuse of me, and my legal advisers.
"While he has now removed that post, it has been necessary to make this statement to set out the correct position."
Earlier this month Aluko admitted that she had left the country out of fear.
"Over the past week, I have taken advice from lawyers and a course of action has now been decided on," she said.
"I've genuinely been scared this week. I didn't leave my house until Friday and I'm now abroad.
"Online abuse has a direct impact on your safety and how you feel and how safe you feel in real life.
"I've felt under threat this week. I've felt like something is going to happen to me. And I don't say that for anyone to feel sorry for me - I say that for people to understand the reality and the impact that hate speech has, the impact that racism has, the impact that sexism has, the impact that misogyny has on all of us females in the game, in sports broadcasting."
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