LAST UPDATE | 27 Sep 2023
LAURENCE FOX AND Dan Wootton have both been suspended by GB News after comments Fox made about a female journalist on Wootton’s programme last night.
GB News initially just suspended Fox for his “unacceptable” remarks, but has since confirmed that Wootton is now also off the air.
In a statement released this afternoon, a spokesperson said: “GB News has suspended Dan Wootton following comments made on his programme by Laurence Fox last night.
“This follows our decision earlier today to formally suspend Mr Fox. We are conducting a full investigation.”
Speaking on Tuesday night during an appearance on Wootton’s show, Fox made a series of remarks about Ava Evans, the political correspondent for online news site Joe, including asking: “Who would want to shag that?”
Wootton has since apologised for the comments, but Fox has said he will not. Fox, an actor-turned-politician, hosted his own programme on the channel.
In a statement issued this morning, a spokesperson said GB News had suspended Fox with immediate effect and would apologise formally to Evans today.
Responding to the backlash over his comments, Fox said he stands “by every word of what I said”. Writing on X, formerly Twitter, he told his more than 400,000 followers that people should not “take a pop” at Wootton and added: “I stand by every word of what I said.
“If a woman wants to go on television and belittle male suicide, she is totally within her rights to do so and not apologise, just as I am totally within my rights to say that I wouldn’t want to shag a hyper offended 4th wave feminist and not apologise, just as people are totally within their rights to be offended by my stating I would run a mile in the opposite direction from women like her, should our paths cross in a bar.
“It’s called free speech.”
Adding that “the new woke world is low on laughter and high on offence”, he said it was still worth “trying to find the lighter moments in this joyless new cancel culture which has been created for us”.
In a long post, Fox continued: “So you keep trying to cancel away in your state of permanent offence, I’ve been cancelled already and may well be again, but I don’t care one bit, and I will keep defending my right to have an opinion on issues which concern me.
“Without free speech and the presumption of innocence we are not free. We aren’t quite communist Eastern Europe yet. We may very close, but not quite there. It’s still worth fighting for.”
So if you are expecting a grovelling apology, I suggest you don’t hold your breath. I won’t ever apologise to the mob.”
Signing off the message he said: “In this self censoring world, speak your mind. Live strong and free.”
After the show, GB News said it has launched an investigation, branding Fox’s comments “totally unacceptable”, and adding: “What he said does not reflect our values and we apologise unreservedly for the comments and the offence they have caused.”
‘Physically sick’
The show’s host Wootton apologised in a follow-up post to an earlier apology, writing on X: “I want to reiterate my regret over last night’s exchange with Laurence on GB News.
Having looked at the footage, I can see how inappropriate my reaction to his totally unacceptable remarks appears to be and want to be clear that I was in no way amused by the comments.
“I reacted as I did out of shock and surprise in an off-guard moment while working out how to respond as he continued to speak by searching for tweets @AvaSantina had sent earlier in the day while having them read out in my ear at the same time.”
He added: “I apologise unreservedly for what was a very unfortunate lapse in judgment on my part under the intense pressure of a bizarre exchange. I know I should have done better. I’m devastated that I let down the team and our supportive GBN family.
“We seek to tackle the issue and not the person, which I intend to stress again on air tonight.”
Evans, a former producer at LBC, shared a clip of the comments on social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, with the caption: “Laurence Fox just did a whole speech on GB News on why men apparently won’t shag me?” which has been viewed more than five million times as of Wednesday morning.
In a follow-up tweet to her nearly 100,000 followers she added that the footage made her feel “physically sick”.
Laurence Fox just did a whole speech on GB News on why men apparently won’t shag me ? pic.twitter.com/XoQD0DUQVm
— Ava-Santina (@AvaSantina) September 26, 2023
Evans today said she does not want to hear from Wootton after he called her “multiple times”.
Speaking on Joe’s podcast, Pubcast, Evans said: “(Dan) called me multiple times throughout the night, last night, and obviously I don’t know him.
“I do know who gave him my number, and it was a woman and I’m really disappointed in her… I think I should have been asked permission before that.
“I was getting calls up until one o’clock in the morning, voicemails… I don’t want to hear from him. This is actually nothing to do with me.
“This is a network problem, this is a presenter, guest, gallery, production issue that is nothing to do with me. I just so happen to be the person they’re talking about but I’m not in the conversation… It’s not to do with me and that’s what makes me feel most sick about it.”
The discussion on GB News came after Evans appeared on BBC’s Politics Live on Monday.
When the host mentioned a call by a Conservative MP for a dedicated minister to address issues related to men’s mental health, Evans said: “I think that it feeds into the culture war a little bit, this minister for men argument.
“[Mental illness] is a crisis that’s endemic throughout the country, not specific to men. And I think a lot of ministers bandy this about to – I’m sorry – make an enemy out of women.”
She later said on X that her comments were “a little rash” and she is “actually very interested in a brief for a minister on young men’s mental health”.
Fox’s comments last night drew strong reactions, with Conservative MP Philip Davies, who hosts a show on GB News, saying in a statement to the PA News agency: “Laurence Fox’s disgraceful remarks were completely unacceptable, unjustifiable and indefensible.”
MPs Lee Anderson, Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg and Esther McVey are among the Tories who host shows on GB News.
Ofcom complaints
In a statement to the PA News agency, an Ofcom spokesperson said: “We can confirm we’ve received a number of complaints about comments made by Laurence Fox on GB News last night.
“We are assessing these complaints against our broadcast rules and will publish the outcome as quickly as possible.”
Fox, whose previous acting credits include Gosford Park and Elizabeth: The Golden Age, told Wootton on Tuesday night: “We’re past the watershed so I can say this: show me a single self-respecting man that would like to climb into bed with that woman, ever, ever, who wasn’t an Incel?
“That little woman has been fed, spoon-fed oppression day after day after day… starting with the lie of the gender wage gap, and she’s sat there and I’m going, if I met you in a bar and that was like sentence three, chances of me just walking away are just huge.
We need powerful strong amazing women who make great points for themselves, we don’t need these sort of feminist 4.0… they’re pathetic and embarrassing. Who would want to shag that?
Laughing, Wootton replied: “Well, look, she, I’m just going to provide a touch of balance from her because she did actually respond to this earlier today, saying that she regretted her comments but she didn’t apologise.”
Wootton, a former executive editor at The Sun, added: “And she’s a very beautiful woman, Laurence, very beautiful woman.”
Fox, who was previously married to actress Billie Piper, founded the Reclaim Party in October 2020 after an appearance on the BBC’s Question Time earlier that year, which the actor said resulted in him being “cancelled from a 21-year acting career”.
According to its website, the party exists to challenge “woke orthodoxy” and promote “freedom of speech”, which it views as being “under grave peril”.
Fox and Ofcom have been approached for comment.
With additional reporting by Órla Ryan
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