Northern Ireland Health Minister Sues Van Morrison For ‘Dangerous’ Dig Over COVID

Northern Ireland’s health minister has filed a lawsuit against musician Van Morrison, accusing him of defamation. Health Minister Robin Swann claims Morrison’s public comments harmed his reputation by implying he was unfit for his role and bungled the pandemic, Northern Ireland’s Sunday Life newspaper reported. “Proceedings have been issued and are ongoing against Van Morrison. We are aiming for a trial in February,” Swann’s lawyer Paul Tweed announced in a tweet. Morrison was angry that his concerts were canceled because of COVID lockdowns that Swann ordered. In June, Morrison tried to get his fans at a Belfast hotel to chant: “Robin Swann is very dangerous.” When he was later asked about it by Sunday Life, Morrison said he didn’t regret it, adding: “Of course he’s dangerous.” Morrison then posted a video on YouTube explaining exactly why he thought Swann was dangerous. He claimed to have contacted Swann and demanded “scientific evidence” to justify banning live music during the pandemic. Morrison wrote three songs last year —“No More Lockdown,” “Born to Be Free” and “As I Walked Out” — all of which bashed the government and protested the COVID lockdowns. As Morrison sings on “No More Lockdown”: “No more lockdown No more government overreach No more fascist bullies Disturbing our peace No more taking of our freedom And our God-given rights Pretending it’s for our safety When it’s really to enslave.” Many fans took issue with the songs: I want to hear Van Morrison’s crackpot views about Covid to precisely the same extent that I wish to hear Anthony Fauci try to sing “Tupelo Honey.” https://t.co/ZhSPGkz12c — Timothy Noah (@TimothyNoah1) September 18, 2020 I’ll continue to trust Van Morrison when it comes to thoughts about going Into The Mystic, and maybe about an individual brown-eyed girl, but when it comes to the genetics of brown-eyed women, the scientists still win. https://t.co/9uhaQrzvFX — A-A-RUN! the 2021 NYC Marathon Sagers (@aaronsagers) September 18, 2020 Swann slammed the songs in an op-ed that appeared in Rolling Stone, and said they would give conspiracy theorists “great comfort.” He called the theorists the “tinfoil hat brigade who crusade against masks and vaccines.” Morrison could not immediately be reached for comment on the suit. !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n; n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=2.0;n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,script,https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js); fbq(init, 1621685564716533); fbq(track, "PageView"); var _fbPartnerID = null; if (_fbPartnerID !== null) { fbq(init, _fbPartnerID + ); fbq(track, "PageView"); } (function () { use strict; document.addEventListener(DOMContentLoaded, function () { document.body.addEventListener(click, function(event) { fbq(track, "Click"); }); }); })(); The post Northern Ireland Health Minister Sues Van Morrison For Dangerous Dig Over COVID appeared first on Patabook News .

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