Hugh Grant Lawsuit Alleges His Phones Were Tapped And His Car Was Bugged
Hugh Grant is suing The Sun, owned by Rupert Murdoch, for spying on him.
A London court recently gave Hugh Grant’s case against Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun tabloid the go-ahead to go to trial. The publisher of The Sun, part of Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers, attempted to get Grant’s lawsuit thrown out. Grant’s suit alleges that The Sun hired journalists and investigators to illegally snoop on him through phone taps, break-ins, and a tracking bug attached to his car. (via The Hollywood Reporter)
This isn’t the first time that Hugh Grant has had a run-in with Mudoch’s News Group Newspapers. The actor previously settled a lawsuit with their former publication News of the World, over phone hacking. News of the World became defunct in 2011 after it was revealed that the publication had intercepted voicemails of a murdered girl and from celebrities, athletes, politicians, and members of the royal family.
Last month, News Group Newspaper asked for the claims from Hugh Grant and Prince Harry about unlawful information gathering to be thrown out due to the six-year time limit to bring those allegations to court. The judge did throw out Grant’s allegations of phone hacking claims but said the other allegations could proceed in court. The basis for this decision was that Grant only became aware of the other allegations after a 2021 investigation by private investigator Gavin Burrows revealed phone tapping, bugging, and burglary.
Hugh Grant previously experienced a break-in to his fourth-floor apartment in 2011, and The Sun would publish a story two days later detailing the interior damage following the break-in. As for Prince Harry, he submitted his lawsuit in 2019 after alleging that the royal family agreed to settle with Murdoch’s organization out of court over the phone hacking. Harry submitted his lawsuit over frustration the settlement wasn’t happening and that his brother received a huge settlement shortly after Harry filed.
So far, News Group Newspapers has denied all of the allegations and will now have to see the Hugh Grant and Prince Harry cases go to trial. Outside of Grant and Harry, there is a different judge who is reviewing other cases brought forth by Elton John, Elizabeth Hurley, and various others against the publisher of the Daily Mail. It remains to be seen what comes of these various cases.
Other than dealing with these lawsuits, we should get to see Hugh Grant return to the big screen fairly soon. His most notable upcoming role will be in the film Wonka which will star Timothee Chalamet as the titular candy maker. Strangely enough, Grant is on board to play an Oompa-Loompa.
Wonka will follow a younger version of the character and reveal how he met the Oompa-Loompas in one of his earliest adventures. With that being the focus of the storyline, it seems like Hugh Grant will have a fairly big role. The film, which is directed by Paul King, comes out on December 15 and will also star Keegan-Michael Key, Olivia Colman, Rowan Atkinson, Sally Field, Simon Farnaby, Matt Lucas, Jim Carter, Tom Davis, Mathew Baynton, Paterson Joseph, Tracy Ifeachor, and Natasha Rothwell.
