Laurence Fox most controversial moments: GB News’ Dan Wootton comment to Twitter ‘swastika’ ban - timeline

Laurence Fox has been officially suspended by GB News following recent comments made live on air with Dan Wootton, but it isn’t the first time the Reclaim Party leader has put his foot in it. Prior to his foray into provoking sensationalist culture war debate, Fox was best known for his role as James Hathaway in the drama series Lewis.

Fox, 45, turned Conservative campaigner in 2019 after spending his free time watching YouTube videos, according to the New Statesman. Caught up in the canon of YouTube ‘radicalisation’, Fox turned his attention away from his career in music and on the screen, and joined the ‘fight’ against woke culture and political correctness.

However, the provocateur - who was expelled from Harrow for ‘something to do with a girl at a dance’ - has forged an outspoken persona, for which he has received widespread criticism and even a temporary ban from Twitter. But what did he do to get suspended from GB News and what controversial moments has Fox been involved in before?

Why was Laurence Fox suspended from GB News?

Appearing live on air with Dan Wootton, during a segment tag-lined “hard-left commentator slammed for shrugging off male suicide crisis” and “smirking face of disdain”, Fox took aim at female journalist Ava Evans, also known as Ava Santina after she took part in a discussion on BBC’s Politics Live on Monday about the need for a minister for men. Fox said that “no self-respecting man” would “like to climb into bed with that woman, ever”, adding that he could say that because he was appearing past the watershed. Speaking live to Wootton, he went on to suggest that only a “cucked little incel” would be interested in Evans. 

He then added: “That little woman has been fed, spoon-fed, oppression, day after day after day after day after day, starting with the lie of the gender wage gap. . . 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”. He concluded by saying “who’d want to s*** that?”

Wootton smiled as Fox was making his comments and giggled when he had finished. He did then say “I’m just going to provide a touch of  balance for her, because she did actually respond to this earlier today saying that she regretted her comments, but she didn’t apologise.” He then added: “She’s a very beautiful woman, Laurence, a very beautiful woman.”

Ms Evans, who is the Political Correspondent for online news site Joe, posted a clip of Fox’s comments on X - formerly Twitter - along with the caption: “Laurence Fox just did a whole speech on GB News on why men apparently won’t shag me?”. She also replied to her post saying: “I feel physically sick”.

Laurence Fox’s most controversial moments - timeline

2007: Assaulting a photographer

Laurence Fox’s contraversial ‘bad-boy’ aesthetic started long before his foray into politics. In 2007, whilst married to Doctor Who star Billie Piper, Fox received a police caution for assaulting a photographer outside the Garrick Theatre in London while the former was performing in Treats, according to My London.

2020: Dropped by his agency after racism row

In 2020, Fox had started the Reclaim Party and even appeared on BBC Question Time in a fierce re-branding of character and ambition. However, his appearance on the flagship BBC show led to many contraversial soundbites after he claimed it was “racist” for an audience member to refer to him as a “white privileged male” before denying Meghan Markles treatment by the press was racist.

Following the comments, Fox was dropped by his talent reps Artists Rights Group (ARG) who had taken the actor under his wing after he parted ways with his previous agency, Authentic Talent, earlier that year.

2020: Sainsbury scandal and calling Nicola Thorp a ‘peadophile’

In October 2022, Fox took to X to announce he would be boycotting Sainsbury after the supermarket confirmed it would be supporting Black History Month. He wrote: “Dear @sainsburys I won't be shopping in your supermarket ever again whilst you promote racial segregation and discrimination. I sincerely hope others join me. RT”

Sainsbury’s later responded to Fox’s tweet with a comment, writing: “The ‘safe spaces’ we created in response to the Black Lives Matter movement were online support groups that helped our black colleagues come together, share their experiences and support one another.”

Feeling unfairly labelled as a racist, Fox responded to tweets reacting to his announcement by calling the authors of said tweets, including actress Nicola Thorp, paedophiles. Fox eventually deleted the tweets.

2021: London mayoral campaign, pub bants

This year saw Laurence make a bid to become Mayor of London, largely off the back of the aforementioned culture war talking points.

His manifesto contained plans to build lots of statues, depoliticise the police and freeze fares on London’s public transport for six months and somehow not bankrupt Transport for London.

There were a lot of other things he was promising to do that the London Mayor simply does not have the power to, such as change facemask laws.

He polled 47,634 votes, which was 1.9% of the total.

2022: Fox sued for defamation

In April 2021,  Crystal from RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, Simon Blake, deputy chair of the LGBT rights charity Stonewall, and Nicola Thorp filed a defamation claim in the High Court against Fox for his response during the Sainsbury scandal. A year later, after attempting to countersue the three individuals, the High Court ruled that Fox must pay over £36,000 in legal fees to Crystal, Blake, and Thorp.

2022: Twitter ban over ‘Swastika’ Pride flag

In June 2022, Fox was locked out of his Twitter account for posting a picture of a swastika made out of four LGBT pride flags - he also set it as his profile photo. He said the image reflected his belief that LGBT pride month, which takes place in June, is “enforced with a sense of hectoring authoritarianism”.

Caroline Russell, who is a member of the Police and Crime Committee in the Greater London Authority, replied to Fox’s post, saying it should be referred to the Met Police for investigation. She said: “I hope the Met Police will look into Laurence Fox using pride flags to create Nazi imagery and posting the images on a public platform. This is a hate crime.”

2023: Burned pride flags for ‘mutilating children’s issues’

In June 2023, Fox hung a series of the Quasar Pride flags attached to bunting in a back garden, and awkwardly set fire to them while reeling off transphobic remarks. In the video posted to social media, the former actor said Pride Month was “the most holy month of child mutilation”.

He added: “This is what I think of your disgusting, vile, child sacrificial flag. Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye Pride, which isn’t Pride. It’s just a celebration of the mutilation of children. And you can shove it.”

Fox released a follow-up video, explaining his reasoning for burning the Quasar Pride flag. He said: “That flag, the Progressive [sic] Pride flag, is nothing to do with the original Pride flag which was to represent hard fought for gay and lesbian rights, which everybody would support.

“In this country, we have a flag that unites everyone - gay, straight, lesbian, white, black, yellow, red, green, thin and fat. It’s called the Union Jack and it represents us all, and it represents secular liberal democracy.”

2023: Fox goes blackface for Sadiq Khan and transphobic comments

In August 2023, Fox shared a photo of himself in blackface to the London mayor, in response to Sadiq Khan’s tweet publicising a ‘Black on the Square’ event which aims to celebrate Black culture and creativity.

The dad-of-two captioned the photo: “Can’t wait. As someone who has recently racially transitioned, I’m glad my culture is going to be celebrated! It’s been a long journey. First the hair curling, then the course of white blockers. It’s just great to finally be myself.”

Fox doubled down and defended his post in a ridiculous video. He said: “[it’s] difficult as a racially fluid person to wake up and not know what you are that day anyway so I am a racially trans lesbian of colour some days and some days I’m a straight white male.”

He added: “I just ask you to be patient, to be understanding, to understand that this is a journey for me and... to be kind, really.”

Unfortunately it doesn’t stop there. Fox then said: “I hope it pisses everyone off because you’re all a bunch of morons... you people pretend transgenderism is real but I can’t be black? Well, I can.”