During an appearance on GB News, Fox made several derogatory remarks, disagreeing with her opinion. Despite Evans not being present, he questioned whether anyone would want to “climb into bed with that woman” and added: “Who’d want to s*** that?”
The fallout from the on-air incident led to Fox and presenter Dan Wootton being suspended. It also prompted an investigation into the “inappropriate” comments.
Fox was later sacked after reports emerged that he had been arrested at his London home on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage to Ulez cameras. GB News also sacked presenter Calvin Robinson after he publicly voiced support for Fox and Wootton.
GB News said: “Laurence Fox and Calvin Robinson were both suspended last week pending internal investigations that have now concluded. As of today, GB News has ended its employment relationship with Laurence Fox and Calvin Robinson. The internal investigation into Dan Wootton continues.”
Evans later admitted she had received threats since Fox’s remarks and felt “deeply embarrassed” by the ordeal.
In 2024, Ofcom ruled that Fox’s “misogynistic” comments breached broadcasting rules designed to protect viewers from offensive content.
The broadcasting regulator said: “[The comments] reduced her contribution to a broadcast discussion on mental health – in her professional capacity as a political journalist — to a judgement on whether she, or women like her who publicly expressed their political opinions, were sexually desirable to men.”
So who is Evans and what was Fox’s issue with her?
Ava Evans on Channel 5’s Jeremy Vine programme
Channel 5 / PA
Who is Ava Evans?
Evans is the political editor for the digital news platform, JOE. She covers topics such as trade unions and stories about Westminster.
What roles has she had?
Before joining PoliticsJOE as a political correspondent in October 2021, Evans worked at Global’s LBC Radio, where she was the lead producer for the James O’Brien programme for over two years.
Based on her LinkedIn profile, Evans has also worked for various outlets, including BBC News, Condé Nast, and Wired.
Her profile also says she obtained a BA in English literature from the University of Sussex in 2018.
Dan Wootton during the interview with Laurence Fox (right) on an episode of Dan Wootton Tonight
PA
What did Ava Evans say before Laurence Fox’s remarks?
Evans and Fox weren’t even on the same programme. Evans had spoken a day earlier on BBC’s Politics Live about men’s mental health.
Responding to a suggestion that a minister of men could be appointed to help tackle men’s mental health, Evans said that it might feed into a “culture war”. She added that it was a crisis that everyone faces.
She said: “I think that it feeds into the culture war a little bit, this minister for men argument.
“[Mental illness] is a crisis that’s endemic throughout the country, not specific to men. And I think a lot of ministers bandy this about to — I’m sorry — make an enemy out of women.”
After her appearance on the show, she said: “I was a little rash on my anti-minister for men comments, which I do regret and am actually very interested in a brief for a minister on young men’s mental health.”
Laurence Fox has responded following a backlash over comments he made while appearing on GB News
PA Archive
What did Laurence Fox say about Ava Evans?
A day later, actor-turned-politician Fox appeared on Wootton’s GB News show, where he was asked about the recent remarks. Instead of responding to her position on the matter, Fox instead criticised her appearance.
He launched into a furious tirade in which he branded Evans a “little woman” and said: “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 s*** that?”
“Sorry, it’s true though,” he added, as he and Wootton smirked.
What has happened since?
Evans previously revealed that she’d received an apology from GB News, explaining: “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 also received a public apology from Wootton, who said in September 2023: “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 issued a public apology in September 2023. Speaking in a video on X, formerly Twitter, Fox said he had been angry with Evans over comments she made on a BBC debate around male suicide, but apologised for “demeaning her”. He said he expected to be sacked.
He said: “If I was going to be sensible and I could replay it, I would say: ‘Any self-respecting man in 2023 would probably be well advised to avoid a woman who possessed that worldview because she would probably cause him nothing but harm’.
“But what I did say was, you know, ‘I wouldn’t shag that’, and all that sort of stuff, which is not right. It’s demeaning to her, to Ava, so 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.”
Fox has since been involved in other legal cases, while Wootton has launched an independent YouTube platform Dan Wootton Outspoken.
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