David Haye has confirmed his plans to sue ITV for ‘irreparable damage to his brand’ amid claims I’m A Celeb bosses deliberately edited him in a negative light.
The boxer, 45, has said despite rumours he was seeking £10million from the broadcaster, the amount he and his ‘£500-an-hour’ lawyer have in mind is significantly higher.
David was accused of ‘bullying’ winner Adam Thomas on the programme, which was filmed in South Africa last year, as well as facing criticism from viewers for his ‘misogynist’ comments about women.
Taking to his Instagram Stories he ranted: ‘I’ve been inundated with people wanting a statement in regards to the legal situation with ITV and this defamation case’.
‘The answer is yes I am. I’m not sure if you know me that well but those who do know that I don’t like getting pushed around. I don’t like people taking advantage’.
David went on: ‘When you’re right and the decision comes down to a judge… Once the tapes have been viewed and the evidence has been presented, they’ll realise that this reality TV might not be that real, maybe it’s manipulated heavily and directed in a certain narrative for a specific reason.
David Haye has confirmed plans to sue ITV for ‘irreparable damage to his brand’ amid claims I’m A Celeb bosses deliberately edited him in a negative light
The boxer, 45, has said despite rumours he was seeking £10million from the broadcaster, the amount he and his ‘£500-an-hour’ lawyer have in mind is significantly higher
‘I’m looking forward to a judge seeing exactly what went down, so they can make their decision.’
He went on ‘There’s lots of different elements I can’t talk about but in regards to how much this claim is going to be, I’m hearing this £10 million number banded around. The number I’m going to hit them with is way more than that.’
Daily Mail has contacted ITV for comment.
It comes after a source told The Sun: ‘David is absolutely gung-ho about all of this – he is incandescent with rage about how the whole series has been handled and feels he’s being made a scapegoat by ITV.
‘He can cite examples – such as the Gemma Collins fat-shaming moment, which used clever editing and snide eye-rolls, etc to make his remark look damning.
‘He is going for damages as a result of the ‘propaganda’ aired against him to recover lost earnings, which lawyers believe could total up to £10million.’
The insider added that David was previously in talks about a show with Netflix which has since fallen through and other brand deal work is also thought to have been paused.
David has reportedly enlisted the services of £500-per-hour barristers Gatehouse Chambers.
Last week, David branded Adam ‘weak willed’ and told him to ‘build his mental resilience’ as he issued a blistering response to the I’m A Celeb co-star’s ‘crying and moaning’ podcast.
David was accused of ‘bullying’ Adam Thomas on the programme, which was filmed in South Africa last year, as well as facing criticism from viewers for his ‘misogynist’ comments
Adam’s time at the Kruger National Park camp was overshadowed by his feud with the ex-boxer and their reunion during last month’s live final was explosive.
As the main show aired Adam took to Instagram to say that David ‘broke me and pushed me to my limits’ while filming the series, including berating him for not doing a trial as he felt unwell.
Waterloo Road actor Adam, 37, spoke on his Thomas Brothers podcast about his time on the show on Wednesday, saying of David: ‘What happened to me in camp was bullying, that is the matter of fact about it – it was bullying.’
Now David has issued a savage reply to the podcast comments, saying in a new video last month: ‘I’ve just taken the time to listen to the podcast. Very interesting.
‘It was enlightening. Dishing out banter to me and then losing the banter game when I give it back to him – he just starts crying and moaning and he’s somehow still spun it so that he’s the victim.
‘He’s done this hour chat with his brothers… I put it in double speed as I couldn’t listen to the waffle, all three of them were b***hing and whining and moaning. He won!’.
‘I don’t think he’s been around proper guys who have a bit of back and forth and that does build your mental resilience to jibes. I’ve had plenty of that – whenever something goes wrong I do get shit for it, that’s what real guys do.
‘The little light sprinkling of primary school banter that I gave which was so gentle – he nearly had an emotional breakdown over it. The amount of banter he received was significantly less than what he dished out. And this message now is another form of banter.’
He continued: ‘Everyone now is so damn soft it makes me sick. You are rewarded for the softer and weaker you are. I’m interested in the smaller amount of people who are saying ‘David makes sense’.
‘You’re nearly 40 years old and you’re moaning TV competition! You get £100,000 to give to the charity of your choice, you’ve made more money in a day than most people make in a year.
‘Maybe your weak fanbase want you weak energy. There is lots of stuff that’s going to come to light that kind of contradicts his story that I’m looking forward to seeing the light of day…’
