Hugh Grant reluctantly settles longstanding privacy case against newspaper
British actor Hugh Grant has begrudgingly settled his longstanding privacy case against News Group Newspapers, the publishers of The Sun.
Grant brought the notion forward against News Group Newspapers in 2022 regarding alleged illegal information-gathering activity by the tabloid newspaper during the 2000s. The actor previously settled a phone-hacking case against News Group Newspapers in 2012, relating to the News of the World, which is now defunct.
Last year, Grant appeared at London’s High Court and delivered a witness statement as part of the legal procedure. He alleged: “My claim concerns unlawful acts committed by The Sun, including burglaries to order, the breaking and entering of private property in order to obtain private information through bugging, landline tapping, phone hacking, and the use of private investigators to do all these and other illegal things against me.”
While News Group Newspapers have maintained The Sun didn’t commit any of the allegations made by Grant, they have now reached a settlement with the actor. Due to the agreement, the case will no longer advance to court.
Grant has now taken to Twitter to explain why he chose to settle, citing the potential cost of a trial as the main factor. He began by writing: “News Group are claiming they are entirely innocent of the things I had accused The Sun of doing – phone hacking, unlawful information gathering, landline tapping, the burglary of my flat and office, the bugging of my car, the illegal blagging of medical records, lies, perjury and the destruction of evidence.”
The Wonka star continued: “As is common with entirely innocent people, they are offering me an enormous sum of money to keep this matter out of court. I don’t want to accept this money or settle. I would love to see all the allegations that they deny tested in court.”
However, Grant claims his hands were tied, which forced him to settle, stating, “If I proceed to trial and the court awards me damages that are even a penny less than the settlement offer, I would have to pay the legal costs of both sides.”
The actor went onto say that “even if every allegation is proven in court, I would still be liable for something approaching £10 million in costs.”
While he has been awarded a considerable fee, Grant says he doesn’t want it to be “hush money” and he plans to donate the sum to “groups like Hacked Off into the general campaign to expose the worst excesses of our oligarch-owned press.”
Grant’s involvement with Hacked Off over the last decade sparked an interest of politics inside of him, with the Notting Hill actor recently revealing he briefly considered running for office. However, after receiving abuse when campaigning against the Conservative Party at the 2019 General Election, Grant decided against pursuing the interest further.
He explained: “What was interesting was the abuse that came in from the right. I never know if they’re real or if they’re bots. But they’re good. They’re brilliant at what they do. And it was absolutely terrifying. I’ve had a bit of it before during the Hacked Off campaign, but this was really extreme and shocking and threatening to one’s family. So, I do see that you have to be either very brave or insane to go into politics in the digital age.”
See his full statement below.
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