BROADCASTER Jeremy Vine is suing ex-footballer Joey Barton for calling him a “bike nonce” and accusing him of spreading lies about the Covid jab.
The Radio 2 presenter, 58, filed the defamation claim last week.
The Sun understands it relates to posts in which Barton, 41, compared Vine to paedophiles such as Jimmy Savile and Rolf Harris.
It is not yet known for how much the ex-England and Manchester City player is being sued.
He is yet to submit any documents in his defence.
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The pair have been embroiled in a long-running spat on X/Twitter.
Barton has claimed Vine is “one of the many Government Stooges trying to pressure people to play Russian Roulette with those Covid vaccines”.
Vine had asked his followers if “genuinely, is it possible we are dealing with a brain injury here?” after Barton’s stinging criticism of female pundits.
Vine also shares videos of himself cycling in London and often calls out dangerous drivers.
On January 8, Barton posted: “Oi, bike nonce! Stop talking about me on your s**tty show.”
He added: “No brain injury here pal. You just don’t like the truth.”
The ex-ace is also facing legal action from football pundit Eniola Aluko after he likened her and fellow ITV broadcaster Lucy Ward to serial killers Fred and Rose West.
Aluko said: “Joey Barton recently published a post on X which made untrue, inaccurate and defamatory allegations about me and my family.
“It is particularly harmful that Mr Barton involved my family in that post, suggesting my late father, a distinguished Nigerian senator, was in receipt of ‘dodgy money’ and that I had benefitted from his corruption which paid for my lavish lifestyle including Rolls-Royce cards and a private education.
“Mr Barton also publicly stated he knew where my family lived. These, and the other allegations he made in the post, are all entirely untrue and have caused me extreme harm and distress.”
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