Laurence Fox suspended by GB News after 'unacceptable' Ava Evans comments

GB News has issued an apology and suspended Laurence Fox after he made what the broadcaster called "totally inappropriate" comments about the journalist Ava Evans.

In a live interview with Dan Wootton, the actor said of Evans: "Show me a self-respecting man who would like to climb into bed with that."

Evans posted the clip of the segment to the social media site X, with the comment: "Laurence Fox just did a whole speech on GB News on why men apparently won't shag me." In a reply she added: "I feel physically sick".

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In the clip, Fox said: "That little woman has been fed…spoon-fed oppression day after day after day, starting with the lie of the gender wage gap. She's sat there, and I'm going like, if I met you at 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 feminists 4.0."

Fox's comments were in response to an appearance by Evans on "BBC Politics Live" on Monday about men's mental health, The Guardian noted. 

After her appearance Evans 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."

Yesterday, GB News issued a statement saying Fox's commentary on Evans "does not reflect our values".

"Comments made tonight on GB News by Laurence Fox were totally unacceptable," the station said in a response posted to X. "We apologise unreservedly for the comments and the offence they have caused. We have launched an investigation and will be apologising to the individual involved."

Latre the channel posted on X: "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."

Wootton, who had laughed when Fox made his comments, also issued an apology on X, writing: "Dear @AvaSantina I think you're brilliant…I apologise for what was said during the course of my show and should have done this immediately on air. This is not what our channel is about."

Media regulator Ofcom said in a statement: "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."