Laurence Fox has issued a public apology to journalist Ava Evans after making a string of derogatory comments about her on Dan Wootton’s GB News show.
On Tuesday night, the actor, Reclaim party founder and GB News contributor appeared on Wootton’s show to discuss Evans’ recent comments about male mental health.
However, this very quickly descended into a rant in which Fox made a series of personal digs, questioning: “Show me a single self-respecting man that would like to climb into bed with that woman, ever, ever, who wasn’t an incel?”
Wootton did not intervene during Fox’s speech, only referring to Evans’ follow-up posts on X (former known as Twitter) towards the end of the discussion for “a touch of balance”, before insisting that Evans is a “very beautiful woman”.
Both men have now been suspended from GB News, while Wotton’s contract as a columnist for the Daily Mail has also been terminated.
The morning after his rant was met with a widespread backlash, Fox maintained he would not be apologising for his remarks, stating that he stood by “every word of what I said”.
However, in a 15-minute video posted on Thursday night, Fox backtracked over this, claiming that what he’d said was “not right” and “demeaning” to the PoliticsJoe reporter.
He added: “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.”
“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,” Fox insisted.
“I express my apology to Ava for the language used, but I maintain the sentiment.”
Wootton apologised to Evans after the broadcast, while Fox later shared screenshots of texts allegedly sent by Wootton after the broadcast, in which the former Sun journalist appeared to laugh off the incident.
Ofcom has also confirmed it will be launching an investigation after Fox’s rant was broadcast live on GB News, following more than 7,000 complaints to the TV watchdog.
Since its launch in June 2021, GB News has already been found to have breached Ofcom rules on three different occasions.