GB News suspends Dan Wootton after Laurence Fox’s
remarks on show
Broadcaster says it is conducting full investigation
after also suspending Fox
Jim Waterson Media editor
@jimwaterson
Wed 27 Sep 2023 18.38 BST
GB News has
suspended the presenters Dan Wootton and Laurence Fox as the channel struggles
to contain the fallout after misogynistic comments made on Wootton’s show.
The
rightwing news channel said on Wednesday: “GB News has suspended Dan Wootton
following comments made on his programme by Laurence Fox last night. This
follows our decision earlier today to formally suspend Mr Fox. We are
conducting a full investigation.”
GB News has
refused repeatedly to investigate Wootton over separate, unrelated, allegations
that he used the pseudonym Martin Branning to send sexually explicit messages
to former colleagues.
Wootton,
40, is already facing investigations by both MailOnline, which has suspended
him, and his former employers at News UK over these historical claims. As a
result he is now being investigated by three separate media groups over a
variety of issues.
The latest
scandal began on Tuesday evening when Fox appeared on the Dan Wootton Tonight
programme on GB News to discuss comments made by the political journalist Ava
Evans about men’s mental health.
Rather than
focus on her arguments, Fox instead used his time to discuss the journalist’s
appearance and explain why he would ignore her in a bar.
He called
Evans a “little woman” and went on to say: “Show me a single self-respecting
man that would like to climb into bed with that woman ever, ever, who wasn’t an
incel.
“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. Who’d want
to shag that?”
As both Fox
and Wootton laughed, Fox added: “Sorry, it’s true though.”
Evans, who
posted the clip of the segment on X – the social media site formerly known as
Twitter – after it aired, said the comments had made her feel “physically
sick”.
On
Wednesday Evans said she had received an apology from GB News.
“It was an
email from the editor – a very gracious email – basically telling me that what
Fox said was not representative of the rest of the GB News outfit,” she told
the BBC Newscast podcast.
“That’s
actually probably the best apology I could have gotten. Honestly, not to cast
doubt on our media landscape, but I didn’t actually think anything was going to
happen.
“I don’t
want to say I’m pleased by it. I just think that’s probably the best outcome I
could have hoped for.”
Evans added
that she had received threats in a “really nasty” past 24 hours.
During the
discussion on Tuesday, Wootton could be seen smirking, although he did attempt
to steer the conversation elsewhere before concluding: “And she’s a very
beautiful woman, Laurence, very beautiful woman.”
Afterwards,
following a social media backlash, Wootton issued an apology and insisted he
was laughing only out of shock at Fox’s comments.
He said:
“Having looked at the footage, I can see how inappropriate my reaction to his
totally unacceptable remarks appears to be and want to be clear that I was in
no way amused by the comments … I should have intervened immediately to
challenge offensive and misogynistic remarks.”
Fox, also a
presenter on GB News, was suspended by the channel on Wednesday morning after
politicians and fellow GB News staff expressed their disgust at his comments.
Fox, 45,
then turned his fire on Wootton, suggesting his apology and justification for
the laughter were not sincere.
Fox shared
a screengrab of a private Twitter conversation from just after the broadcast,
captioned with the words “Honesty is the best policy”, that appeared to show
Wootton posting a number of laughing emojis in response Fox’s comments about
Evans.
It is rare
for the rightwing GB News channel, which has encountered many controversies and
multiple regulatory inquiries during its short existence, to issue an apology.
The media
regulator, Ofcom, which has struggled to deal with GB News pushing the
boundaries of British TV regulation, said it was urgently looking into a large
number of complaints about Fox’s comments.
The media
regulator has six separate investigations into GB News still going, with the
channel already found to have breached the broadcasting code on three different
occasions within the last year.
GB News has
close links to the Conservative government, receiving preferential access to
ministers and spending hundreds of thousands of pounds a year employing Tory
MPs as presenters.
Wootton and
Fox’s comments could also cause a headache for Paul Marshall, the hedge fund
billionaire who provides much of the financial backing for GB News.
He is
putting together a bid to buy the Daily Telegraph but could face challenges if
he is not considered an appropriate buyer for the title due to the conduct of
his other media businesses.
Lucy
Frazer, the culture secretary, said Fox’s comments were “inappropriate and
unacceptable”, while her Labour opposite number, Thangam Debbonaire, put the
episode in the context of society-wide misogyny.
She said:
“Last night’s woman-hating on air has hit a new low. Might want to ask why a
national broadcaster would want to keep this man on air. Women are mighty and
we will never let voices like this silence us.”
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