Laurence Fox removed from GB News over comments about female journalist
GB News has terminated the contract of two of its presenters and suspended another following comments made by Laurence Fox about a female journalist.
Fox, who was speaking on the Dan Wootton Tonight Show, received widespread backlash after making debilitating comments about the journalist Ava Evans. The broadcaster said in response that it would be ending their relationship with the presenter.
Dan Wootton has also been suspended whilst an investigation by the broadcaster takes place and Calvin Robinson, a conservative political commentator and broadcaster has been sacked after defending Fox.
Ava Evans, the journalist at the brunt of this sexist attack, currently works as the political correspondent for the news platform, Joe, however, was on BBC Politics Live and discussing the topic of men’s mental health which spawned the misogynistic outburst from Fox and Wootton.
Evans responded to this backlash stating that “the clip speaks for itself… I’m a bit speechless”.
Fox, despite releasing an apology on X, formerly known as Twitter, still stands by his comments in telling all self-re-specting men to “run a mile from her, but regrets using the dysphemism “shag” in his misogynistic rant.
Olivia Piggott, a student at the University of Leeds criticised his ‘apology” stating that “the increase in entertain-ment-based online news channels such as GB News are permitting these misogynistic comments.
“Despite being fired, the fact that he is showing little remorse shows how this industry is fuelled and funded by these shock factor bite-size clips. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they get on these controversial figures, and therefore these news channels have a responsibility to viewers to prevent these bigoted guests on their shows.” MailOnline has now also ended Wootton’s contract, following the 7,000 overnight complaints made to the media regulator Ofcom which is investigating whether the programme broke the broadcasting code.
Ava Evans, the 29-year-old, has also recently revealed that she received an email from GB News after the eruption occurred, which stated that “what Fox said was not representative of the rest of the GB News outfit.”
In a society that is considered to be more diverse, it is uncertain whether there are still true misogynists at heart, or whether this outburst is simply the mindset of a few, disorderly individuals.
