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Rush “forced” from AACTAs role, lawsuit will claim.

Court documents suggest Rush may not have stood down voluntarily from AACTAs presidency.

Actor Geoffrey Rush was allegedly forced to stand down from his role as AACTA president, rather than voluntarily, according to documents in his lawsuit against the Daily Telegraph.

A week ago Rush said in a statement, “….I have decided to step aside in my ambassadorial role as president of AACTA effective immediately and until these issues have been resolved.” AACTAs also indicated he stepped down voluntarily.

Foxtel CEO Peter Tonagh and Seven programming boss Angus Ross jointly wrote to AACTAs following allegations linked to the Sydney Theatre Co. Foxtel Director of TV Brian Walsh also resigned from the AACTAs board.

Rush is now suing News Corp and journalist Jonathon Moran -who co-hosted Seven’s red carpet coverage in the night.

ABC notes one of the further complaints is how Rush’s allegations were linked to Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey and Don Burke, including alongside an article “so as to falsely and unfairly associate the allegations against the applicant with the allegations against Mr Burke”.

Headlines “King Leer” and “Bard behaviour” ridiculed Rush and damaged his reputation, the suit claims.

“The Daily Telegraph accurately reported the Sydney Theatre Company received a complaint alleging that Mr Geoffrey Rush had engaged in inappropriate behaviour,” editor Chris Dore said.

“We will defend our position in court.”

The matter is expected to reach court early in February.

AACTAs declined to comment further.