Laurence Fox’s “misogynistic” comments on GB News broke broadcasting rules, Ofcom has ruled.
The media watchdog said the actor-turned-political-activist’s remarks about political journalist Ava Evans on Dan Wootton’s show on 26 September, in which he asked “who would want to shag that?”, prompted nearly 8,867 complaints.
“We found that Mr Fox’s comments constituted a highly personal attack on Ms Evans and were potentially highly offensive to viewers,” Ofcom said.
“They reduced her contribution to a broadcast discussion on mental health – in her professional capacity as a political journalist – to a judgment on whether she, or women like her who publicly expressed their political opinions, were sexually desirable to men.”
It added his remarks “were degrading and demeaning both to Ms Evans and women generally and were clearly and unambiguously misogynistic”.
The watchdog also found Wootton’s reaction and “limited challenge” in response “did not mitigate the potential for offence”.
“Rather, they exacerbated it by contributing to the narrative in which a woman’s value was judged by her physical appearance”.
Read more:
Reaction and what Fox said – in full
Who is Laurence Fox?
Fox previously apologised to the journalist and said his comments were “demeaning” and “not representative of who I am”. Wootton also apologised.
Both were suspended by the channel after the broadcast and Fox was later sacked.
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Source Agencies
