Actress Tracy-Ann Oberman has paid substantial damages and published an apology to an academic after falsely accusing him of antisemitism.
Ms Oberman suggested last year that Dr Philip Proudfoot had a “Jew blocklist” on Twitter, but has now said that her “mistake” was “hurtful.”
Dr Proudfoot had in fact only used a Twitter Block Chain, a common device used to deter trolls.
In a statement, he said: “Harmful defamation… is unacceptable.”
Former EastEnders star Ms Oberman has agreed not to repeat the allegation and will also pay Dr Proudfoot’s legal costs.
Dr Proudfoot, who is an anthropologist and Middle East specialist, is a research fellow at the Institute for Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex.
‘Household name’
He is a supporter of Palestinian rights and in 2020 founded the Northern Independence Party, a democratic socialist party intended to tackle the UK’s north/south divide.
On 4 April 2021, Ms Oberman tweeted in a now-deleted post: “So a man called @PhilipProudfoot of @FreeNorthNow has a Jew blocklist. I’ve been out of the twitter politics loop for a few months but is this Party continuation Corbyn? Seems like it. And will it end up the same way? Seems like it. Good luck all.”
The allegation was untrue and Dr Proudfoot commenced a libel claim against Ms Oberman, on the basis that the tweet was defamatory and suggested that he was a racist anti-Semite who blocks Jews from interacting with him.