CORRECT AMOUNT TO MILLIONS, NOT BILLIONS – FILE – In this Aug. 2, 2012, file photo, Australian actor Geoffrey Rush arrives for the opening of the Melbourne International Film Festival in Melbourne, Australia. On Thursday, July 2, 2020, an Australian court rejected a newspaper editor’s appeal against the $ 2.9 million Australian dollar ($ 2 million) payment by Oscar Rush-winning actor for defamation. (AP Photo / Paul Jeffers, file)
CORRECT AMOUNT TO MILLIONS, NOT BILLIONS – FILE – In this Aug. 2, 2012, file photo, Australian actor Geoffrey Rush arrives for the opening of the Melbourne International Film Festival in Melbourne, Australia. On Thursday, July 2, 2020, an Australian court rejected a newspaper editor’s appeal against the $ 2.9 million Australian dollar ($ 2 million) payment by Oscar Rush-winning actor for defamation. (AP Photo / Paul Jeffers, file)
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) – An Australian court on Thursday rejected a newspaper publisher’s appeal against Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush’s payment of $ 2.9 million Australian dollars ($ 2 million) for defamation.
Three Federal Court judges ruled that articles published by Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph in 2017 carried the charge that Rush was a pervert and that the trial judge had correctly included the actor’s loss of earnings in the calculation of the damage.
The Australian actor, who turns 69 on July 6, did not attend Sydney court to hear the verdict.
Nationwide News, owned by News Corp., appealed Justice Michael Wigney’s decision last year that Rush was defamed by newspaper reports that actor Eryn Jean Norvill had accused him of inappropriate behavior. He played the daughter of Rush’s lead character in a Sydney stage production of “King Lear” in 2015 and 2016.
The publisher also appealed against the amount of Rush’s payment, which includes almost AU $ 2 million for past and future financial losses, for two articles published in the newspaper and a billboard poster that Wigney discovered portrayed him as a pervert and a predator. sexual.
David English, editor of the newspaper, said he was disappointed by the appeals court ruling that highlighted the need for Australia to change its defamation laws.
“The Rush case exposes the shortcomings of Australia’s defamation laws and increases the need for urgent legislative reform to allow public debate and encourage women to voice their concerns,” English said in a statement.
“We will continue to report on issues like these that are of great concern to the Australian public,” he added.
Rush’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The publisher’s attorney, Tom Blackburn, said at the two-day appeal hearing that the trial judge “improvised” speculation and inferences to find that Rush was unable to work due to his post-publication mental state and has since had fewer job offers.
The actor’s attorney, Bret Walker, responded that Rush testified about the devastating effects the posts had on his mental state, while other evidence heard during the trial supported the findings that he was unable to work and had fewer job offers.
Rush received the Oscar for Best Actor in 1996 for his portrayal of pianist David Helfgott in “Shine” and was nominated for roles in “Shakespeare In Love”, “Quills” and “The King’s Speech”. He is also famous for his portrayal of Captain Barbossa in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies.
He received Australia’s highest civilian honor in 2014, the Companion of the Order of Australia, for service to the arts.
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This story has been revised to correct the amount of the payment to millions, not billions.
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