and I wouldn't have a problem if I never saw him again. He's not a nice character." The feud between the two men had apparently ended by March 2008, and they helped select the finalists in the Groups category in The X Factor. Louis Walsh v News Group Newspapers Walsh sought access to documents which allegedly showed that The Sun UK tabloid paid €700 to a man who made a false sexual assault accusation against him. The man was later imprisoned for the false accusation. The senior counsel for Walsh told Ireland's High Court on 14 May 2012, "The Sun directed the operation to take out Louis Walsh as a public person." On 10 August 2012, the High Court ordered The Sun to give all documents and information to Walsh relating to the preparation of an article in The Sun entitled "Louis Probed Over 'Sex Attack' on Man in Loo". The article was published both in The Sun and their website on 23 June 2011. Walsh sued for defamation of character resulting from the false and malicious allegations and the case was settled out of court. Walsh was awarded damages of €500,000 and €180,000 costs on 28 November 2012. Despite winning the legal case, the false accusations had a "lasting effect" on Walsh who was, as of 2015, suffering from paranoid thoughts and panic attacks as a result of the ordeal. Stephen Gately Walsh was unaware of Stephen Gately being gay when he selected him for Boyzone and said in 2008 that, had he known, he would have thought twice before picking him. He elaborated that he would not have picked Gately because "it wasn't cool then to have a gay guy in a band". Mel B During an interview conducted by Sarah-Jane Crawford on The Xtra Factor during the semi-final results show in 2014, Walsh groped Mel B by her buttocks. Visibly irritated, she scolded and moved away from Walsh, who said he was only "looking after her". Crawford and the other judges, Cowell and Cheryl, tried to reassure her that she was "safe" while laughing off the gesture. After resurfacing on social media in July 2018, a few months after the Me Too movement began, the clip amassed millions of views on social media; it prompted discussion on the treatment of women by men and drew condemnation of Walsh and the responses of Crawford, Cowell, and Cheryl. Some