Laurence Fox claims he lost out on roles in Succession and Disney after being branded ‘racist’

Laurence Fox was accompanied by podcaster Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Barker as he arrived at court on Wednesday (Picture: PA)

Laurence Fox has claimed he lost potential roles in the Emmy-winning drama Succession and a popular Disney series after he was branded a racist in a social media argument.

The former GB News presenter, who was fired from the channel in October, is being sued by former Stonewall trustee Simon Blake and ex-Drag Race UK star Crystal over a row on Twitter, now known as X, in October 2020. 

Fox, 45, called Blake and the drag artist, whose real name is Colin Seymour, ‘paedophiles’ in an exchange about a decision by Sainsbury’s to celebrate Black History Month. 

After Fox called for a boycott of the supermarket, the actor was called ‘a racist’ by the pair and former Coronation Street actress Nicola Thorp in their own Twitter posts. 

The Reclaim Party founder, who denies being a racist, is counter-suing the trio over their tweets, claiming they damaged his reputation.

Fox arrived at court on Wednesday morning holding hands with his girlfriend, Elite Thinking Club podcast host Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Barker. 

Fox is embroiled in a libel trial with three public figures (Picture: PA) Fox held hands with Elizabeth, who hosts the podcast Elite Thinking Club (Picture: PA) (l-r) Blake, Thorp and Colin Seymour aka Crystal were united as they arrived at the Royal Courts of Justice (Picture: PA)

During the first day of the trial, Fox claimed his career was impacted after the Twitter row that he lost his acting agent and that faeces were posted through his door on two occasions. 

Patrick Green KC, for Fox, said that there is ‘little doubt that Mr Fox’s reputation has actually suffered very considerably’ since the online clash, particularly in the mind of his former agent Sue Latimer.

He continued: ‘The allegation of being “a racist” will have been looked upon very seriously by many of Mr Fox’s actual and potential colleagues… He is not a racist, he is a colour-blind liberal who dislikes racism, “progressive” and identitarian politics.’ 

The court was presented with a schedule of Fox’s ‘business opportunities’ from 2019 onwards, which listed 52 opportunities in 2019, compared to four each in 2021 and 2022.

Nicola Thorp is being countersued by the actor-turned-politician (Picture: Getty Images) Crystal was also branded a ‘paedophile’ by Fox (Picture: Radio Times, BBC)

These include queries in 2019 regarding Fox appearing on ITV reality series The Masked Singer and as a contestant on gameshow Catchphrase, as well as an invite to Ascot Racecourse from Moet and Chandon champagne.

The court was also told of a February 2020 query about a role on hit HBO series Succession, and an invitation in November 2020 to audition for a project by Disney, thought to be the Obi-Wan series starring Ewan McGregor.

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The five opportunities listed for 2023 include an offer to appear on the show Banged Up, where high-profile figures including EastEnders actor Sid Owen and Conservative MP Johnny Mercer spent several days locked in a decommissioned prison.

Lorna Skinner KC, representing Mr Blake, Mr Seymour and Ms Thorp, said the trio ‘honestly believed, and continue honestly to believe, that Mr Fox is a racist.’ 

In written submissions, Ms Skinner said the divisive presenter ‘has made a number of highly controversial statements about race’, adding: ‘If and to the extent that Mr Fox has been harmed in his reputation, it is his own conduct and not the claimants’ comments on it that caused that harm.’ 

Ms Skinner highlighted several of Fox’s social media posts, including a June 2022 tweet of four pride flags arranged in the shape of a swastika.

‘Such a disgusting post could only be made by a complete ignoramus or an intelligent racist with an agenda. Mr Fox is the latter,’ she said.

The court was later told that Fox tweeted a photo of himself in August 2023 ‘blacked up’ and describing himself as someone who had ‘racially transitioned.’ 

Ms Skinner continued: ‘This is so offensive on so many levels that it is difficult to know where to start… this is self-evidently a racist tweet.’ 

The barrister later told the court Blake and Seymour had both faced serious harm to their reputations due to Mr Fox’s tweets and would defend their posts as expressions of honest opinion.

In April 2022, Fox’s lawyers made the unusual move of asking for his defamation case to be decided by a jury as opposed to a judge, but this request was later denied. 

Fox previously addressed his tweets in an episode of Jeremy Vine, and said: ‘It was in response, possibly, to 10 months now of being called a racist by people on Twitter, which I think is a career-ending slur, actually, and I find very hurtful.

‘If the point is that words mean nothing, seeing as it’s a totally baseless allegation and is entirely in opposition to what my feelings are, I thought, you know what, if words meaning nothing nowadays, I can call you anything I want in return.

‘Was it my finest hour? No.’ 

The trial before Mrs Justice Collins Rice is due to conclude next week with a decision expected at a later date.

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