Northern Ireland’s health minister has filed a defamation lawsuit against Van Morrison after the singer called him “a fraud” and his handling of coronavirus restrictions “very dangerous.” Health Minister Robin Swann’s legal action is in response to a June appearance by Morrison at the Europa Hotel in Belfast, after the last-minute cancellation of one of his shows due to COVID-19 regulations. In viral footage of the incident, Morrison can be seen leading a cheering audience, chanting: “Robin Swann is very dangerous.” Libel lawyer Paul Tweed, representing Swann, confirmed to The Belfast Telegraph’s Sunday Life that the lawsuit had been filed, with the aim to have a trial in February.

Morrison’s attorney, Joe Rice, told the AP that the singer’s words “constituted fair comment.” Morrison, 76, has largely been dismissive of the pandemic. The singer has been an outspoken critic of restrictions, penning a number of anti-lockdown songs with lyrics about scientists “making up crooked facts” to “enslave” the population. In an op-ed for Rolling Stone last September, Swann alternately bemoaned and lambasted the singer’s behavior, calling it “bizarre and irresponsible.” His songs about the “fascist bullies” in government, Swann wrote, would “give great comfort to the conspiracy theorists… who crusade against masks and vaccines.”