GB News, the British channel, has initiated an investigation into remarks made by Laurence Fox during a recent broadcast, which were deemed “totally unacceptable.” The comments targeted Ava Evans, a political correspondent for the online news site Joe. This incident occurred during an episode of “Dan Wootton Tonight” on Tuesday.
During the broadcast, Laurence Fox made several remarks about Ava Evans, including describing her as a “little woman.” Ms. Evans took to social media, sharing a clip of the comments with the caption, “Laurence Fox just did a whole speech on GB News on why men apparently won’t shag me?” The post quickly gained traction, with over 2.1 million views.
In a follow-up tweet, Ms. Evans expressed how the footage made her feel “physically sick.” The incident unfolded following Ms. Evans’ appearance on BBC’s “Politics Live” the day before.
GB News issued a statement on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) expressing their regret over the incident. The statement read, “Comments made tonight on GB News by Laurence Fox were totally unacceptable. What he said does not reflect our values, and we apologise unreservedly for the comments and the offence they have caused. We have launched an investigation and will be apologising to the individual involved.”
Host Dan Wootton also addressed the situation, both publicly and directly to Ava Evans. He said, “I think you’re brilliant… I apologise for what was said during the course of my show and should have done this immediately on air. This is not what our channel is about.”
Wootton later took to social media again on Wednesday morning to apologise for the exchange, describing it as a “very unfortunate lapse in judgment.” He acknowledged that he should have intervened immediately to challenge offensive remarks and expressed his regret for not doing so.
Wootton emphasised that GB News seeks to address issues rather than individuals and promised to reiterate this stance on air. The incident has sparked a conversation about the responsibility of broadcasters to uphold respectful discourse and challenge offensive comments during live broadcasts. GB News’ investigation is expected to shed further light on the matter.
