Actor Laurence Fox has described criticism of his appearance on Question Time as “water off a duck’s back” after he argued with an audience member over the Duchess of Sussex.
Responding to a claim from an audience member that the media’s treatment of Meghan amounted to “racism”, Mr Fox responded: “It’s not racism… we’re the most tolerant, lovely country in Europe.
“It’s so easy to throw the charge of racism and it’s really starting to get boring now,” he continued.
The audience member then described Fox as a “white, privileged male”, to which he responded: “I can’t help what I am, I was born like this, it was an immutable characteristic.
“To call me a white privileged male is to be racist,” he claimed.
Footage of the exchange was heavily shared online, with many social media users criticising Fox for his position.
However, the British actor, who was married to Billie Piper until 2016, tweeted the following morning describing his Twitter feed as “Christmas come early”.
“Speak truth to nonsense,” the 41-year-old added.
Further discussing Meghan and Harry’s decision to quit as senior royals, he told host Fiona Bruce: “When you’re younger you do want to make a life for yourselves.
“So I do empathise with them, but I do think there’s a little bit of having your cake and eating it which I don’t enjoy.”
Fox also attracted attention on the BBC programme for comments about climate change.
Joking about the hypocrisy of celebrities who fly regularly, Fox said: “The carbon footprint’s huge.
“But we make up for it by preaching to everyone how they should change their life.”
Related – Jeremy Corbyn backs concerns over ‘racial undertones’ in press treatment of Meghan Markle
