Cricketer Chris Gayle had the last laugh in the defamation case he filed against Australia’s Fairfax Media over an alleged incident during the 2015 World Cup. The cricketer was given a compensation of A$3,00,000 in damages by the Australian court on Monday, December 3. The court stated the media house failed to establish the truth of the reports they published on Chris Gayle.
With big money being credited in the West Indies cricketer’s account, he surely doesn’t have anything much to complain about now.
However, this is not the first odd case where an athlete has filed a defamation case against someone or some media house. There have been few similar cases in the past where sports icons have gone all out to defend their glory. Let’s have a look:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
There have not been too many instances where former ‘Captain Cool’ of India got outraged. However, there was one time he got really furious and filed Rs 100crore defamation case against Zee Media Corporation and News Nation Network in Madras Court. He alleged that they aired false news linking him with illegal activities of betting, match-fixing and spot-fixing in IPL.
Rafael Nadal
In last year November, tennis legend Rafael Nadal won the defamation case he had filed against French politician, Roselyne Bachelot. Nadal got $11,800 in damages for accusing him of doping. During a TV appearance in March 2016, Bachelot defamed the 16-time Grand Slam winner without any basis to her claims. Nadal filed a case against the minister and said the lawsuit was not only to defend his integrity and reputation as an athlete but also the values he has defended all his life.
Jason Pierre-Paul
In 2016, American football defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul sued Adam Schefter and ESPN alleging that the journalist violated his privacy by posting medical records related to a fireworks mishap on Twitter. The incident left Jason with a mangled right hand.
