Laurence Fox apologises for calling people ‘paedophiles’ in online row

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Laurence Fox said sorry in court to two individuals he had accused of being "paedophiles" during a Twitter dispute, which led to a legal argument in the High Court.

The founder of the Reclaim Party declared that he had been reducing the absurdity of being branded as "racist" while discussing Sainsbury's choice to offer a secure area for black workers during Black History Month on the social media platform currently known as X.

Last October, Mr Fox, aged 45, urged people to refrain from shopping at a particular grocery store. This led to accusations of racism from drag performer Crystal, former Stonewall board member Simon Blake, and actress Nicola Thorp.

Afterwards, the performer and government official called all three individuals “child molesters”, resulting in a lawsuit for defamation by Mr. Blake and the drag queen, who is also referred to as Colin Seymour.

The person known as Mr Fox is claiming that he is not a racist and is also making a legal claim against the group of three for their tweets. He spent another day speaking in court in London on Tuesday.

While being questioned, Mr. Fox acknowledged that labeling someone as a paedophile was a significant accusation, but only if it was truthful rather than just being a figurative expression.

Lorna Skinner KC, who is the legal representative of Mr. Blake, Mr. Seymour, and Ms. Thorp, requested that Mr. Fox denies causing any distress to the two men, even though they testified against him during the trial.

Mr Fox responded by saying: "Distressed? Both of them stated that they were distressed by it. I have no choice but to believe what they said."

He turned towards the couple and said, "I apologize separately to each one of you for what happened."

In plain language, the actor explained that he only used the word as a figure of speech and he never meant to imply that he thought the person was a child molester.

He mentioned that he was minimizing the absurdity of being labeled as a racist.

Mr. Seymour, an artist from Canada, wrote a statement for the legal case in which he stated that after Mr. Fox's tweet, he had experienced a lot of distressing and difficult-to-handle harassment. He also mentioned that he no longer felt safe when performing in drag.

During the court proceedings, Mr Blake, who currently holds the position of CEO at Mental Health First Aid England, stated that the notion that gay men are child molesters is an ancient and overused stereotype.

Mr Fox had previously mentioned that his strategy for dealing with the Twitter conversations was to say, "If you're going to use words that have no purpose or value, then let's begin immediately."

He stated that accusing someone of being a paedophile is a significant accusation, just like accusing someone of being a racist.

During his court appearance, he stated that he had experienced an overwhelming amount of negative attention on social media, commonly referred to as a "Twitter pile-on" and a "triple-pronged attack". He also mentioned that his career as an actor has been completely ruined since the incident.

While being interrogated, Mr Fox denied the accusations made by Ms Skinner that he had shared derogatory opinions and insensitive jokes regarding race in the past.

Mr Fox supported his opinions on a variety of topics, arguing that taking the knee was "unpatriotic," criticizing the "liberal belief system," and claiming that sharing black squares on Instagram to support the Black Lives Matter movement was a "meaningless public display of morality."

Last year in October, the performer declared that he would refuse to support Sainsbury's, alleging that the company was endorsing "racial separation and bias".

During the legal proceedings, the individual stated that he believed the supermarket company was engaged in "corporate virtue signalling" and referred to them as "dreadful people". Additionally, he criticized the establishment's decision to implement a safe space policy, deeming it a nonsensical and irrational concept.

Just to clarify, I don't believe that individuals of the black race pose a threat and I believe it is an unpleasant accusation to suggest otherwise.

In his written statement, Mr. Fox explained that, to him, a safe space is the opposite of a dangerous space. He believes this implies that it may be risky for white employees to enter such spaces.

In my opinion, this is incorrect, detrimental and discriminatory. In the end, it originated in America and was brought into different cultures.

According to Ms Skinner, in America, black people were forced to live in segregation, which is not the same thing as creating a secure area in a Sainsbury's store.

According to Mr Fox, the language used was overly emotional and he accused the supermarket of promoting segregation.

Ms Skinner expressed her belief that the actor's response was reminiscent of the fantastical thinking found in "Alice in Wonderland". The actor disputed her claim that he had misunderstood the supermarket's intention to create a "virtual" safe environment during Covid-19 protocols.

According to her, when Mr. Fox used the term "dangerous" to describe black people, it disclosed a lot about his inner beliefs and thoughts towards them.

The performer expressed, "I want to state that I do not believe that black individuals are harmful, and I consider it to be a cruel and negative accusation."

According to Patrick Green KC, the representative of Mr Fox, both Mr Blake and Mr Seymour have not experienced any genuine, tangible effects from the actor's tweets. This statement was made in written pleadings previously.

. In case Mr. Fox's reputation has been damaged, it's due to his own behavior and not because of the comments made by the claimants.

The lawyer stated that the online comments did not make people have a worse perception of Mr Blake and Mr Seymour. Additionally, individuals did not believe that they were involved in child molestation.

Mr. Green clarified that the content posted by Mr. Fox was not intended to be taken as a fact, but rather a response to an accusation of racism. He believes that readers would have perceived it in this way.

In the past, Ms Skinner expressed that she believed Mr. Fox was a racist and that Mr. Blake, Mr. Seymour, and Ms. Thorp shared her opinion and still do to this day.

According to the written statements given by the barrister, Mr Fox has made several contentious remarks about race. Moreover, the barrister mentions that any damage to Mr Fox's reputation is a result of his own actions and not due to the comments made by the claimants.

On Wednesday, Mr Fox is set to finish providing testimony.

The case being heard by Mrs Justice Collins Rice is anticipated to conclude by the end of this week, with a ruling to come at a future time.