Laurence Fox has apologised to journalist Ava Evans after making a series of derogatory comments about her on GB News.
The actor and Reclaim party founder released a video on Thursday (September 28) where he apologised for his “demeaning” comments on Tuesday’s episode of Dan Wootton Tonight, which led to him and Wootton being suspended from the channel.
On the episode, when referring to the political correspondent, Fox said, “Show me a single self-respecting man that would like to climb into bed with that woman ever,” before later adding: “Who’d want to shag that?”
In a video posted to X (fka Twitter), Fox said he was still “angry” over comments Evans had made during a Politics Live debate on male suicide, but acknowledged his remarks were “demeaning”.
“If I was going to be sensible and I could replay it, I would say: ‘Any self-respecting man in 2023 would probably be well advised to avoid a woman who possessed that worldview because she would probably cause him nothing but harm,” Fox said.
War and Peace (and love)@AvaSantina @GBNEWS pic.twitter.com/vTfSFSuGjq
— Laurence Fox (@LozzaFox) September 28, 2023
“But what I did say was, you know: ‘I wouldn’t shag that,’ and all that sort of stuff, which is not right. It’s demeaning to her, to Ava, so I’m sorry for demeaning you in that way, however angry I am with you still for doing that, and it demeans me because it’s not representative of who I am.”
Fox said he expects he will be sacked by GB News today (September 29) over the incident, adding: “I’m not saying any of this stuff because I know I’m going to get sacked tomorrow. I’m saying it to clear my own conscience.”
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
Towards the end of the 15-minute video, he added: “[I] express my apology to Ava for the language I used, while I maintain the sentiment.”
Wootton, who apologised to Evans following the broadcast, was subsequently sacked by MailOnline, where he had a contract to write two columns per week.
Ofcom has launched an investigation into the incident after the broadcast regulator received over 7,300 complaints about the episode.
