GB News has suspended the presenter Laurence Fox after he went on a misogynistic on-air rant about the political journalist Ava Evans.
Fox appeared on Dan Wootton to discuss comments made by Evans about men’s mental health, before commenting at length on the journalist’s appearance and why he would ignore her in a bar.
Evans posted the clip of the segment to X, formerly known as Twitter, with the comment: “Laurence Fox just did a whole speech on GB News on why men apparently won’t shag me,” adding in a reply: “I feel physically sick.”
In the segment, Fox called Evans a “little woman” and went on to say: “Show me a single self-respecting man that would like to climb into bed with that woman ever, ever, who wasn’t an incel.
“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’d want to shag that?”
As both Fox and Wootton laughed, Fox added: “Sorry, it’s true though.”
The pair were discussing comments made by Evans during an appearance on BBC Politics Live on Monday about men’s mental health. After her appearance, she said: “I was a little rash on my anti-minister for men comments which I do regret and am actually very interested in a brief for a minister on young men’s mental health.”
Wootton raised her response with Fox, saying: “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 added: “Uh, yes. So there you go. And she’s a very beautiful woman, Laurence, very beautiful.”
Fox refused to apologise for his comments on Wednesday morning and appeared to be preparing for his suspension, warning his followers on social media that he has “been cancelled already and may well be again”.
Minutes later, a spokesperson for the rightwing channel confirmed that one of their longest-serving presenters had been taken off air.
They said: “GB News has formally suspended Laurence Fox while we continue our investigation into comments he made on the channel last night. Mr Fox’s suspension is effective immediately and he has been taken off air. We will be apologising formally to Ms Evans today.”
Wootton, who is already being investigated by two former employers over allegations he sent sexually inappropriate messages to then-colleagues, laughed during the on-air exchange with Fox.
On Wednesday morning, Wootton issued a second apology, insisting he had only laughed out of shock at Fox’s words about Evans. He said: “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.”
It is rare for the rightwing GB News channel, which has encountered many controversies and multiple regulatory inquiries during its short existence, to issue an apology. The media regulator, Ofcom, which has struggled to deal with GB News pushing the boundaries of British television regulation, said it was urgently looking into a large number of complaints about Fox’s comments.
GB News’s viewing figures remain small but are steadily rising and the channel is competing with both Sky News and the BBC News channel in terms of average audience. However, while Sky and the BBC rely on a large number of viewers dipping in, GB News is built around a smaller core audience watching for longer periods of time throughout the day.
