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

Laurence Fox has said he has had a disciplinary hearing at GB News but cannot “speak freely” about it.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, he said: “Just completed my GB News show trial. I mean disciplinary hearing. I think the rules are that I can’t speak freely about it. Which is totally on brand. For the home of free speech.”

Laurence Fox is not the only controvery controversial broadcaster GB News is facing at the moment.

The channel is embroiled in a Tory bias row tonight after announcing Suella Braverman will be interviewed by her own party’s deputy chair – just a week after the right-wing news channel was sanctioned over impartiality.

Lee Anderson, the divisive Ashfield MP will meet the home secretary for a cosy sit down after her return from the US, where she delivered a speech calling for a crackdown on gay and female asylum seekers.

GB News presenter Michelle Dewberry clashed with former home secretary Jacqui Smith during a debate on the future of the news channel following Laurence Fox’s rant against Ava Evans.

The pair went head-to-head on Good Morning Britain on Friday morning, with Ms Dewberry accusing Ms Smith of “chuckling” at one of the points she was making on impartiality.

“Don’t have a go at me, Michelle,” Ms Smith responded during the exchange.

After a bit of back and forth, she then asked the GB News presenter to clarify her “actual point” instead of “accusing” her of laughing.

In a letter sent to our editor at The Independent, readers expressed their view that GB News has “debased the concept of free speech”, amid the Laurence Fox controversy:

Laurence Fox may well be a towering intellect and the rightful heir to Gielgud and Olivier, but loyalty is perhaps not his strongest card. Within hours of being suspended by GB News for his smutty teenage giggling act, he dobbed in his fellow presenter.

The Times columnist Danny Finkelstein drily tweeted a comparison with the German theologian who famously stood up to the Nazis: “As Pastor Niemöller might have put it: ‘Then they came for each other.’”

Fox’s co-presenter, Dan Wootton – yes, that one – had offered a belated weasel apology for grinning throughout Fox’s misogynist monologue about girls and shagging. But Fox was having none of it, and – pronouncing that “honesty is the best policy” – promptly tweeted an exchange of texts that somewhat undermined the sincerity of Wootton’s apology. Wootton was himself duly suspended.

The misogynistic double act of Laurence Fox and Dan Wootton will soon be forgotten, writes Alan Rusbridger, but it’s clear that GB News is hurtling down a path towards the kind of dangerous unregulated broadcasting landscape occupied by America’s Fox News, giggling as it goes. Here’s why it’s no laughing matter:

I see Laurence Fox is in the news again. “Fox News”, you might say.

As one of the repertory company of dual-purpose pundits and presenters in the alt-right echo chamber that is GB News, the former moderately successful actor went off on a rant on the Dan Wooton Show about a perfectly decent journalist, Ava Evans.

Both Fox and Wootton have since been suspended by the channel, which said it would be investigating Fox’s comments – which came after Evans, a correspondent with PoliticsJoe, said on TalkTV that “men should be frightened to touch women in a way they are not comfortable with”.

Sean O’Grady writes:

GB News presenter Michelle Dewberry clashed with former home secretary Jacqui Smith during a debate on the future of the news channel following Laurence Fox’s rant against Ava Evans.

The pair went head-to-head on Good Morning Britain on Friday, with Ms Dewberry accusing Ms Smith of “chuckling” at one of the points she was making on impartiality.

“Don’t have a go at me, Michelle,” Ms Smith responded during the exchange.

After a bit of back and forth, she then asked the GB News presenter to clarify her “actual point” instead of “accusing” her of laughing.

GB News presenter Dan Wootton has been suspended by the channel and sacked by MailOnline after an interview with Laurence Fox faced widespread criticism.

The 40-year-old host was taken off air on Wednesday after failing to stop Fox’s ‘misogynist’ outburst and laughing at derogatory comments about Ava Evans, a political correspondent for online news site, Joe. GB News, which has billed itself as the “home of free speech”, has also banned Fox from further appearances and promised a “full investigation”.

Wooton’s woes deepened on Thursday when the Mail website said it had terminated his column, which had already been put on hold following separate allegations against him.

Barney Davis has more:

Right-wing commentator Laurence Fox has admitted he expects GB News bosses to sack him and fellow presenter Dan Wootton – after more than two days of public uproar over his offensive and sexist comments to a female journalist.

Fox also finally apologised to the journalist Ava Evans, admitting he had been “demeaning” towards her – but in a rambling 15-minute video tirade on social media he sought to justify his rant, saying he stood by the sentiment he had expressed.

The actor-turned-politician made a series of remarks about political correspondent Ms Evans, which included asking “who would want to s*** that?” during a discussion on Dan Wootton Tonight on Tuesday.

Read more:

LBC’s Nick Ferrari has sent a message to Laurence Fox over his “vile” Ava Evans rant.

The radio presenter said that Evans began her career as a researcher on his show and said she is “a far better broadcaster” than Fox “will ever be”.

Ferrari then went on to suggest that Ofcom are likely “sharpening their teeth” and could come down hard on GB News.

“Don’t let them suggest that they are being censored, these are repugnant, antediluvian views that have no place on any broadcast channel,” he said, speaking about Fox’s outburst, which was also described as “vile” by MP Stephen Flynn.