Boyle gets £54k after being libelled by paper

Comedian Frankie Boyle won more than £54,000 (€66,000) damages after a High Court jury concluded that he had been libelled by the Daily Mirror.

Boyle, aged 40, from Glasgow, claimed the Daily Mirror defamed him by describing him as “racist” and saying he had been “forced to quit” BBC panel show Mock The Week.

Daily Mirror publisher Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) defended the article, published on Jul 19, 2011.

MGN said the “racist” description was either true or “honest comment on a matter of public interest”.

The publisher said the words “forced to quit” did not mean that Boyle had been sacked and were not defamatory.

But jurors ruled in favour of Boyle yesterday following a week-long trial in London. They awarded Boyle a total of £54,650 in damages.

Boyle, who had said during the trial that he would give any damages to charity, did not comment to reporters after the verdict was given.

During the trial Boyle had denied “punctuating” material with racist references or making “gratuitous” use of black people.

He told the High Court in London that characters he played might express racist views, but he did not.

Boyle said he actively campaigned against racism and parodied racists — and claimed that the Daily Mirror had “misunderstood” the context of his use of language in jokes.

MGN lawyers said Boyle was a “racist comedian” who gratuitously exploited negative stereotypes of black people for “cheap laughs”.

A barrister representing MGN had told the jury that Boyle was “callous” and “insensitive”.

Counsel Ronald Thwaites said jurors should not find in the comedian’s favour.

He said that if jurors thought Boyle had been libelled then they should show their “contempt” by awarding damages of 45p — the price of a copy of the Daily Mirror.

Boyle said he was “very happy” as he left court.