Media watchdog Ofcom has ruled Laurence Fox’s “misogynistic” comments made on GB News’ Dan Wootton Tonight about female journalist Ava Evans broke broadcasting rules.
The remarks made by actor-turned-politician Fox, in which he asked “who would want to shag that?”, about political correspondent Ms Evans during an episode on September 26 received 8,867 complaints.
Fox and presenter Wootton, who both later apologised, were suspended by the channel after the broadcast.
Fox was later sacked from the channel.
Ofcom said: “An Ofcom investigation today concluded that an episode of Dan Wootton Tonight on GB News broke broadcasting rules designed to protect viewers from offensive content.”
In a ruling, it said his comments “constituted a highly personal attack on Ms Evans and were potentially highly offensive to viewers”.
“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.
The media 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”.
Related: Laurence Fox comments about Ava Evans tops Ofcom complaints list for 2023
