A fledgling news channel in the U.K. has suspended a third presenter in relation to public outrage over alleged misogynistic remarks made by outspoken presenter Laurence Fox during an interview on Tuesday evening.
The Rev. Calvin Robinson confirmed on social media on Friday that he had been taken off air by GB News just hours after publicly supporting Dan Wootton, one of the suspended presenters suffering a backlash from media commentators and politicians following the controversy.
Robinson announced that he would be refraining from appearing on the Dan Wootton Tonight program without the star host and warned the “ambitious careerists” within the GB News organization against succumbing to the “woke mob” baying for Wootton and Fox to be sacked.
He added that the channel, which in its Editorial Charter vows to “give a voice to the real Britain,” will be on “borrowed time” if it becomes simply another mainstream media outlet “afraid of (U.K. regulator) Ofcom” and “afraid of the woke mob.”
“If he falls, we all fall,” the Free Church of England deacon said as he called for solidarity among the GB News ranks with their fellow presenters. “We are about to see if people really care about the project, or they just want a better slot, with a bigger team and better pay.”
He later confirmed he had been suspended.
Wootton and Fox have been in the media spotlight this week following an interview on Tuesday evening during which Fox, a former actor and current leader of the Reclaim Party, criticized Politics Joe journalist, Ava Santina-Evans, accusing her of making light of male suicide during a televized BBC debate earlier in the week.
“We’re past the watershed, so I can say this. Show me a single self-respecting man who would like to climb into bed with that woman ever, ever…” Fox said.
Laurence Fox just did a whole speech on GB News on why men apparently won’t shag me ? pic.twitter.com/XoQD0DUQVm
— Ava-Santina (@AvaSantina) September 26, 2023“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 would want to shag that?” Fox added.
Dan Wootton, presenting the show, could be seen smirking and laughing at the remarks as they were made.
In the public fallout on Wednesday, Fox initially refused to apologize for the remarks, unlike Wootton who posted an apology to Ms. Santina-Evans on his social media platforms, a statement that was undermined by Fox who shared a private exchange between the two journalists in which Wootton could be seen making light of the remarks.
Honesty is the best policy. https://t.co/snrQdY9Zbe pic.twitter.com/gQfg0P3pKA
— Laurence Fox (@LozzaFox) September 27, 2023Fox eventually posted a video on Thursday evening in which he expressed regret for the “demeaning” remarks, insisting they were “not representative of who I am” but maintained “the sentiment” of his comments, explaining his continued anger for what he claimed was Ms. Santina-Evans’ demeaning of male suicide.
The issue has fuelled a larger debate after the intervention of a governing Conservative MP, Caroline Nokes, who called for GB News to be “shut down” and urged regulator Ofcom to intervene.
“I think there is a really serious case to answer, and I hope that Ofcom can conclude its investigations as swiftly as possible,” she said.
“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 offensive,” Nokes added.
It is worth noting that Nokes had appeared on the channel no fewer than nine times before calling for it to be canceled.
“I think there is a delicate and important broadcast ecology in this country. I think GB News is trying to bust that ecology, and frankly, what Ofcom should do is shut it down,” added former Sky News anchor Adam Boulton.
However, a number of media commentators and politicians have since come out in defense of the channel, which is facing an existential crisis by suspending seemingly dissenting presenters after positioning itself as a bastion of free speech.
David Davis, a former government minister and former leadership candidate for the Conservative Party, described calls to cancel the channel as “alarming” and said that whilst “Fox’s comments were crass and rude, indeed disgusting… TV channels should not be shut down because one of the people on their channel says something offensive on live broadcast.”
He added that no other broadcasters within the U.K. mainstream media faced such calls after indiscretions, and insisted that Britain “is supposed to be a democracy, not an authoritarian state.”
This was followed by Toby Young, the general secretary of the Free Speech Union, who said he hoped Fox won’t be fired from the channel.
“I know him and like him and admire his courage. He said something stupid, but he’s apologized. No one should lose their livelihood for a few ill-chosen words,” Young posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Many supporters of the presenters in question are now questioning whether the GB News leadership is bringing the channel’s own demise after what they consider to be its weak management throwing its under-pressure staff under the bus.
The channel’s CEO, Angelos Frangopoulos, told BBC Radio 4’s Today program on Friday morning that Fox’s comments “did not reflect what we believe is appropriate conversation as a media company, as a part of the national conversation” and apologized personally to Ms. Santina-Evans.
