3 months ago
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CRAIG BUTLER, technical director of Vere Phoenix United, says he will defend the claims made in a defamation lawsuit filed by Cavalier’s sporting director Rudolph Speid in the Civil Division of the Supreme Court on Friday.
In the lawsuit, Speid alleges Butler made defamatory statements about him, which where then shared by Knockinz Media.
Jordan Woodfine of Knockinz Media is also named as a defendant in the suit.
Speid is alleging that he has suffered damage and incurred expenses.
He is seeking “damages for defamation pursuant to the Defamation Act, aggravated damages, exemplary damages and damages for negligence in respect of words and electronic posts.”
When The Gleaner contacted Butler, he said he believes his statements were not defamatory in nature.
He argued for his statements to be considered defamatory, they would need to be proven as untrue.
Butler said while he has not spoken to Speid in several years, he is more than ready to defend his statements in court.
“For something to be defamatory, then it needs to be untrue and that’s why I said the truth needs no defence,” Butler told The Gleaner.
“I believe there is a lot of evidence to prove they are true.”
Within the lawsuit, Speid claims Butler made defamatory statements in more than 20 instances across the span of two videos in interviews conducted by Woodfine.
These videos were then allegedly published by Knockinz Media across their social media pages.
Speid claims the alleged statements had accused him of abusing his position as the chairman of the Technical and Development Committee of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) to unethically influence player selection for the national football teams.
Allegations which he strongly denies.
The lawsuit also claims that Butler was “knowingly, recklessly and maliciously spreading a false narrative about the claimant [Speid] for his own personal benefit”.
When The Gleaner contacted Speid through his attorney-at-law, Rudeine Speid, we were told they would not give any comments on the lawsuit at this time.
Woodfine said he was surprised by the filing as he believed the matter had been settled.
“I didn’t know that he would actually go through with it because I took down the video,” Woodfine told The Gleaner.
“I don’t know what I’d need to do here to avoid this situation because you said this is a lawsuit, so it will involve the courts and I don’t want to go to court over this.”
The lawsuit, which listed two videos by Knockinz Media as evidence, stated Woodfine had “deliberately used an inflammatory title for the interview and encouraged the 1st defendant’s [Butler’s] words.”
The filing stated Woodfine had been advised to take down the first interview, dated January 23, 2025, which was initially refused.
Speid pointed to a message which was posted to Knockinz Media’s Instagram page on January 27, 2025, as proof they were made aware of his request to remove the alleged defamatory statements.
Speid alleges that Woodfine was again approached, stating he would pursue legal proceedings, after which the first interview was removed.
The lawsuit stated that on or about February 14, a second interview, which is listed as evidence, was uploaded to Knockinz Media’s YouTube channel.
Speid claims the second interview had discussed the first interview’s removal, and allegedly made further defamatory statements.
Along with the defamation claims, Speid is also seeking an injunction to prevent Butler and Woodfine from posting the same or similar statements as well as costs and interests to be decided by the court.
English (US) ·