Third GB News presenter suspended after channel boss condemns Laurence Fox remarks
A third GB News presenter has been suspended after the channel's boss condemned on-air comments made by Laurence Fox about a female journalist.
Angelos Frangopoulos said he was “appalled” by Fox’s remarks, which were broadcast on an episode of the channel’s Dan Wootton Tonight show on Tuesday.
Calvin Robinson announced his suspension on social media site X, formerly Twitter, following an earlier post in which he supported Dan Wootton and claimed channel bosses are "afraid of the woke mob".
Actor-turned-politician Fox made a series of remarks about political correspondent Ava-Santina Evans, while Wootton could be heard laughing during the segment.
The pair have both since been suspended from the channel and apologised to Ms Evans.
In his first interview, GB News boss Mr Frangopoulos told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the broadcaster has a “process to follow”, but expects the internal investigation to be “resolved very quickly.”
The former Sky News Australia chief executive added: “I was appalled by those comments they are not in keeping with the values with us as a business and obviously we took action immediately.
"I was horrified by what was said….that comment should not have gone to air.”
Both Fox and Wootton were suspended by GB News amid an internal investigation and a probe by regulator Ofcom, who received around 7,300 complaints about the episode.
Mr Frangopoulos issued a personal apology to Ms Evans, adding: “They did not reflect what we believe is appropriate conversation as a media company, as a part of the national conversation, it really is an apology, it was just really inappropriate.
"I think Laurence Fox does sail close to the wind but he didn’t sail close to the wind earlier this week, that was way past the limits of acceptance. We are about free speech, but it is about a respectful way.
“We totally respect Ofcom and we chose to be regulated. What we are doing is very different to what the normal parameters of the Ofcom code were designed for.
"We are reflecting a different approach, we are disruptive and that is why Britain is watching."
Ms Evans confirmed that she had received an apology from GB News but said she doesn't think the channel is "safe for women".
Speaking on Good Morning Britain on Thursday said the apology suggested the incident “didn’t reflect the rest of the views on the channel”.
She continued: “I’m sure that’s true to a degree… but there’s certainly a narrative that is pervasive after 10pm on that channel, that I just don’t think it’s safe for women to watch, consume or be around.”
Mr Frangopoulos has also defended his channel's practice of getting Conservative MPs who are being paid to host shows to have discussions with their colleagues in Government.
With four serving Tory MPs, including Jacob Rees-Mogg and Lee Anderson on its bankroll, GB News has been coming under increasing scrutiny from Ofcom over the practice, and has once been found to have breached the rules.
Mr Frangopoulos insisted that an “interview” of Home Secretary Suella Braverman by her Conservative colleague Anderson will be “duly impartial”.
Anderson gets £100,000 a year for his show on top of his £86,584 MP’s salary, and he also serves as the Conservative Party’s deputy chairman.
He billed their discussion that will be aired on Lee Anderson’s Real World on Friday evening as an “exclusive scoop”, and as the “first interview on British soil since her landmark speech this week in the US”.
Pressed on why they decided not to get an impartial journalist to interview the minister, Mr Frangopoulos said that they are “filling a gap in the landscape”.
“We’re not journalism for journalists, we’re journalism for people,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“The conversation that happened between people like Suella Braverman and Lee Anderson, they are conversations, they are not interviews in the same sense.”
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