Laurence Fox – latest: GB News suspends presenter Calvin Robinson as Ava Evans issues new response

GB News presenter Calvin Robinson has said the broadcaster has suspended him after he shared his support for Dan Wootton online.

Robinson, who hosts a religious current affairs programme on the channel, said in a social media post on Friday that he would not appear on Dan Wootton Tonight without the suspended presenter, claiming “if he falls, we all fall”.

Naomi Clarke reports:

Tory MPs are calling for GB News to be investigated by the broadcasting watchdog over the “unacceptable and disgraceful” on-air behaviour of Dan Wootton and Laurence Fox.

Technology secretary Michelle Donelan said Ofcom had to take the response to the “next stage” after both men were suspended by the channel following Fox’s remarks about journalist Ava Evans.

And Tory MP Caroline Nokes said GB News “should be taken off air” over the episode, where Fox attacked Evans by saying “Who would want to sh** that?” as he elicited laughs from Wootton.

GB News has suspended Fox following his comments about journalist Ava Evans, in a segment broadcast during Dan Wootton’s show on Tuesday night.

Fox refused to apologise for his comments, which were widely condemned, including by fellow GB News presenters.

A female guest on GB News previously warned Laurence Fox of “baiting women for clicks” in a newly emerged clip.

Doctor Tessa Dunlop appeared on the show in December 2022 to discuss Jeremy Clarkson’s comments on Meghan Markle in his newspaper column.

Dr Dunlop shared the clip on X, formerly Twitter.

In the clip she tells Fox: “Generally you like to poke with a stick. You go as far as you can, you push the right-wing envelope. You men have disproportionately large platforms. You get little me’s on, a doctor incidently but nonetheless, just a little woman, and you bait us for clicks.”

Journalist Ava Evans says she has faced “threatening” messages on social media after Laurence Fox’s “vile” rant on GB news.

Fox made a number of insults about the political correspondent for the online news website Joe during Dan Wootton’s show on Tuesday night. He has been banned from making any further appearances on GB News, while Wootton has also been suspended by the channel.

Asked about the impact of Fox’s rant, Evans explained that she has faced “threatening” comments on social media. She explained that she has been told to “watch her back” because people are “threatening to come after me”.

Journalist Ava Evans said that it “wasn’t a goal” of hers to get Dan Wootton and Laurence Fox suspended from GB News but she just “happened to be the person they picked on that night”.

The channel announced on Wednesday that it had suspended the pair after what they called “totally unacceptable” comments made by Fox on Wootten’s evening show.

“This isn’t really about me, at all, I just so happened to be the person that they picked on that night and went too far with,” Evans said, speaking to Piers Morgan Uncensored on TalkTV.

“It wasn’t a goal of mine to get them suspended from the programme.”

Piers Morgan is among the several high-profile celebrities denouncing Laurence Fox following his “vile” GB News rant.

Prior to his interview with journalist Ava Evans on Piers Morgan Uncensored on Wednesday night, Morgan called Fox a “disgusting piece of misogynist trash”.

You can read more about this from The Independent below:

Laurence Fox has shared his “final thoughts” on his recent suspension from GB News, following a rant about a woman journalist.

The contraversial figure said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that GB News is no longer the “home of free speech” after they suspended both himself and Dan Wootton.

Fox claims that he is “the catalyst for the great takedown to begin”, but says that “if it hadn’t been me” it would have been another “desperate presenter” joining the “pile on”.

Though he did not directly apologise in his post, Fox added: “I own my mistakes and take full responsibility for them”.

He ended his post by saying he “must rebuild”, adding that he had “done it before and I will do it again”.

Laurence Fox says that GB News has forgotten “why they came into existence in the first place” as he makes a statement on his suspension.

In a post on X, formerly known as twitter, Laurence Fox said GB News “panicked” following his controversial rant about journalist Ava Evans.

“Where GB news have erred is by forgetting why they came into existence in the first place. Calling themselves the “home of free speech” is a simple principle to protect.” Mr Fox wrote.

He added that he believed the broadcaster “could have easily” said that they ‘respected’ his comments and ‘upheld the fundamental right to free speech’, but instead “went on the defensive”.

Mr Fox also said that GB News was now a “crocodile eating itself”, after multiple presenters condemned his comments on Tuesday night’s show.

He also claimed he has not heard from the broadcaster since his suspension and is “waiting for a chop” at a disciplinary hearing on Friday.

Tory MP Caroline Nokes has called for GB News to be taken off air, as she criticised a number of her Conservative colleagues for “swanning off” to host shows on GB News.

The equalities select committee chair said it is “very odd” for colleagues such as Lee Anderson and Jacob Rees-Mogg to have presenting gigs while they have a “day job to do”.

Ms Nokes was highly critical of the broadcaster after it aired “blatantly misogynistic, outdated, hideous attitudes” displayed by Dan Wootton and Laurence Fox towards journalist Ava Evans.

“I think there is a really serious case to answer and I hope that Ofcom can conclude its investigations as swiftly as possible,” she told BBC Newsnight. “I think it should be taken off air, it was entirely predictable that Laurence Fox was going to come out with a statement that was that offensive.”

As both Laurence Fox and Dan Wootton are suspended by GB News, Sean O’Grady comments on the broadcaster’s “anti-woke” reputation: