Dan Wootton has been suspended by GB News after a row about comments made by Laurence Fox on his programme.
Fox was taken off air immediately following comments he made on air about a female journalist which have been described as “unacceptable, unjustifiable and indefensible”.
Speaking on Tuesday night during an appearance on Dan Wootton’s show, Fox made a series of remarks about Ava Evans, the political correspondent for online news site Joe, including asking: “Who would want to shag that?”
GB News said in a statement: “[We have] 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.”
In an earlier statement, announcing their decision to suspend Fox, the broadcaster said: “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.”
Wootton offered an apology on X, formerly known as Twitter, in which he described Ms Evans as “brilliant”.
“I apologise for what was said during the course of my show and should have done this immediately on air,” he wrote in a post.
“This not what our channel is about.”
Read more:
Reaction and what Fox said – in full
Who is Laurence Fox?
He followed the post up with another on Wednesday morning, in which he said he wanted to “reiterate my regret” over the comments made by Fox.
“Having looked at the footage, I can see how inappropriate my reaction to his [Fox’s] totally unacceptable remarks appears to be and want to be clear that I was in no way amused by the comments,” he wrote.
“I should have intervened immediately.
“I apologise unreservedly for what was a very unfortunate lapse in judgement on my part under the intense pressure of a bizarre exchange.
“I know I should have done better. I’m devastated that I let down the team and our supportive GBN family.”
Fox’s comments made journalist feel ‘physically sick’
In a clip shared by Ms Evans on X, Fox 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.
“That little woman has been fed… spoon-fed oppression day after day after day, starting with the lie about the gender pay gap.
“She’s sat there, and I’m going like, if I met you at 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 feminist 4.0.
“They’re pathetic and embarrassing.
“Who’d want to shag that?”
When sharing the video, Ms Evans included a caption saying: “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”.
And speaking to Channel 5’s Jeremy Vine show on Wednesday morning, Ms Evans said she is “really hurt” by the comments Fox made about her “body rather than her work”.
“I’m really hurt by it… I’m shocked about by it, I’m shocked that it went out.
“Do you know this is the sort of talk that you worry that men have about you when you’re not in the room. There is always sort of a worry in the back of your mind which is: ‘Are people actually interested in what I’m saying or what I’m doing?’
“Or are they just looking at me… physically and I think that that clip proves that there are some men who are.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Ms Evans updated her followers, thanking people for their support, and added: “I haven’t had an apology yet if anyone was wondering.”
The discussion came after Ms Evans appeared on the BBC’s Politics Live on Monday.
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