Dan Wootton suspended and investigated by GB News over Laurence Fox's remarks

GB News has announced it is conducting a ‘full investigation’ following its suspension of presenters Laurence Fox and Dan Wootton.

On Wednesday, the broadcaster made two separate announcements throughout the day, first to share the news of Fox’s suspension, before later confirming Wootton had also been stood down.

In the most recent statement it said: ‘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.’

On Wootton’s show on Tuesday evening, Fox made a series of remarks about Ava Evans, known as Ava Santina on X, formerly Twitter, including asking ‘Who would want to shag that?’.

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The broadcaster later branded Fox’s comments ‘totally unacceptable’.

It added that: What he said does not reflect our values and we apologise unreservedly for the comments and the offence they have caused.’

On Wednesday morning, GB News announced it had taken further measures against Fox and suspended the former actor with immediate effect while their probe continued.

The statement, posted on X, read: ‘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.’

Following the backlash, Wootton apologised in a follow-up post to an earlier apology, also writing on X: ‘I want to reiterate my regret over last night’s exchange with Laurence on GB News. 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 Ava Santina had sent earlier in the day while having them read out in my ear at the same time.’

He added: ‘I apologise unreservedly for what was a very unfortunate lapse in judgment 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.

‘We seek to tackle the issue and not the person, which I intend to stress again on air tonight.

After the news of his suspension was revealed, Fox claimed the boadcaster knew some of his intentions before going live.

Alongside the screenshot of a text message which was posted on X, he wrote: ‘A phone call might have been polite.

‘By matter of interest for the audience contributors do a pre interview before going on, so they knew exactly what I intended to say.

‘I fully defend the home of free speech’s right to capitulate to the mob…’

The message seemed to show they knew his opinions on the subject matter, but not the precise language.

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