Boxing writer Steve Bunce has received an apology and damages from The Guardian after columnist Marina Hyde had written that he’d used the website bringbackbunce.net to get him back on to television.
Bunce, who writes for The Independent among other outlets, had fronted an hour-long boxing chat and features programme on satellite sports channel Setanta until the broadcaster went bust in June. Before that, he had been a regular panellist on the BBC’s Inside Sport, but together with Des Kelly he was dropped from the Gabby Logan programme’s roster earlier this year.
Bunce is now touring the country with his one-man boxing chat stage show.
According to a report on the Press Gazette website, Bunce used high-profile libel lawyers Carter Ruck, who stated at the the High Court that the allegations in Hyde’s Guardian article were completely false and without foundation.
Bunce’s lawyer told the court that the October 1 article caused her client “distress and embarrassment”.
The newspaper removed the article from its website and apologised within days of the publication, after being contacted by Bunce.
The Guardian apology stated: “‘In Bunce takes the biscuit’ we wrongly suggested that Steve Bunce, the boxing commentator, controlled the website bringbackbunce.net and had claimed on the site to have high-profile supporters, including Bertie Ahern and David Blunkett.
“We accept that Mr Bunce could not have made any such claims, as he did not set up and does not control this website. We apologise to Mr Bunce for the error.”
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