GB News' Mark Dolan slams Laurence Fox as he covers for Dan Wootton amid scandal
GB News host Mark Dolan has discussed the suspension of both Laurence Fox and Dan Wootton from the broadcaster following a day of furious backlash.
On Tuesday night, 45-year-old actor-turned-political activist Laurence was a guest on 40-year-old Dan’s show Dan Wootton Tonight - and sparked fury when he made derogatory comments about journalist Ava Edwards. Viewers felt that Dan didn’t take the comments seriously as he appeared to smirk when Laurence made remarks about not wanting to “s**g” Ava.
While Dan and GB News issued apologise to Ava following the exchange, Laurence appeared to throw Dan under the bus by posting a text exchange and implying it was messages between him and Dan where they joked about the incident after it occurred. GB News subsequently suspended Dan following investigation - hours after suspending Laurence from appearing on the channel over his comments.
Taking to the air on Wednesday night, 49-year-old Mark - who replaced Dan in the late night timeslot - addressed the incident live. He said: "Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ll be aware that GB News presenter Laurence Fox appeared on the channel last night and made some offensives comments about the journalist Ava Evans.
GB News star Mark Dolan has addressed Dan Wootton and Laurence Fox's suspension (GB News)"I wasn’t expecting to be here tonight. Dan’s absence tonight’s is beyond my control. Free speech is everything, but it comes with responsibility. Anything you say, or write, or broadcast, will rightly be exposed to the court of public opinion.
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"I know. I've been there. And I'll be there again. Whether Laurence should stay on air is not my decision, and Dan's absence tonight is also beyond my control. There is an investigation ongoing.
“But the comments made by Laurence in my viewers were sexist, misogynists and have been condemned across the political spectrum from the left and the right and even the liberal democrats."
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He went on to say that GB news has directly apologized to the journalist. Earlier in the day, GB News said in a statement: "GB News has formally suspended Laurence Fox while we continue our investigation into comments he made on the channel last night. Mr Fox's suspension is effective immediately and he has been taken off air. We will be apologising formally to Ms Evans today."
They later announced: “GB News has suspended Dan Wootton following comments made on his programme by Laurence Fox last night. This follows our decision earlier today to formally suspend Mr Fox. We are conducting a full investigation.”
While Dan himself declared via Twitter/X: “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 reacted as I did out of shock and surprise in an off guard moment while working out how to respond as he continued to speak by searching for tweets @AvaSantina had sent earlier in the day while having them read out in my ear at the same time. However, I should have intervened immediately to challenge offensive and misogynistic remarks. I apologise unreservedly for what was a very unfortunate lapse in judgement on my part under the intense pressure of a bizarre exchange.
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