28 September 2023 , 21:42
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Laurence Fox made sure to deliver one last brutal swipe towards journalist Ava Evans in his 15-minute-long apology video.
The former actor and Dan Wootton hit headlines when he made offensive comments about political journalist Ava Evans on Wootton's show. Earlier this week, Evans discussed men's mental health and suicide on BBC's Politics Live show, which led Laurence to launch a vile tirade of abuse towards her while chatting to Wootton on GB News.
In his vicious rant, Fox mocked Evans and publicly humiliated her. He asked the offensive question: "Who'd want to shag that?" He also described Ms Evans as a "little woman" and declared: "We don't need these sort of feminist 4.0" who he said are"pathetic and embarrassing". Fox and Wootton received a lot of backlash online, with GB News later suspending Wootton.
Wootton soon got suspended from GB News and his contract with MailOnline was terminated a day later. Following days of controversial tweets and an unwillingness to back down on his comments, Laurence has now issued an apology to journalist Evans. In a 15-minute video shared on Twitter, he shared an explanation.
The journalist says she has received threatening messagesTaking to Twitter on Thursday evening, Fox said he knows that GB News are going to sack him tomorrow, but he wanted to clear his own conscience by apologising to Ava Evans for using the word 'shag' in his rant. However, he said that he did stand by what he said in telling all self-respecting men to 'run a mile' from her.
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In the video, posted on his account on X, formerly known as Twitter, he said: "Hello everyone. Strange couple of days it's been. First of all, I've got a few things I want to say. The first is to thank you so much for all of the messages of support that have come my way. I really do appreciate it. It's been a tricky couple of days - but I have brought a lot of it on myself.
"I don't think there is any bonus in this modern climate that we have of turning around and saying to people to be unforgiving and unhumble, even though we know that we are faced with a very, very powerful cancel mob. I am now on my second cancellation, so as a father-of-two, raising two children and starting again is very, very worrying.
"I'm not saying any of this stuff because I know I'm going to get sacked tomorrow. I'm saying this stuff to clear my own conscience. So I do want to say that I do think that what's happened is that a narrative has been spun and a scapegoat has been found, which is me. I don't think that has been particularly fair.
"I wanted to just say that I regret the use of my language because I don't think it honours me or my view of women. I'm not a misogynist on any level so there will be no sex allegations or whatever coming my way. I honour, love, and respect women - even those that I don't agree with and I profoundly disagree with Ava. The original idea of feminism was equality which is a noble goal. Women have been suppressed but this wave of feminism that we're on feels like it's not about equality, it's about authority over men."
In one final blow, Laurence said: "I was trying to make the point that any self-respecting man should run a mile from Ava, which I actually, with all due respect, I do stand by. I think what I'm trying to say is that I could have expressed it in a better way."
The apology comes after Fox spoke on GB News and reacted to Evans' comments where he made vile comments about her appearance as he said: "We’re past the watershed so I can say this: show me a single self-respecting man that would like to climb into bed with that woman, ever, ever, who wasn’t an Incel? That little woman has been fed, spoon-fed oppression day after day after day… starting with the lie of the gender wage gap, and she’s sat there and I’m going, if I met you in a bar and that was like sentence three, chances of me just walking away are just huge.
"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?" Laurence and host Dan both laughed, then the former actor added: "Sorry, it's true though." Dan remarked: "I’m just going to provide a touch of balance from her because she did actually respond to this earlier today, saying that she regretted her comments, but she didn’t apologise. So there you go. And she’s a very beautiful woman Laurence, very beautiful."
Ava shared the clip onto her own social media, which has been viewed more than 6 million times, as she wrote: "Laurence Fox just did a whole speech on GB News on why men apparently won’t shag me?" In a follow up tweet she added that the footage made her feel "physically sick".