Richard Ayoade once called out brother-in-law Laurence Fox over race row

Richard Ayoade once called out his brother-in-law Laurence Fox for comments he made about Meghan Markle and racism.

Fox made headlines earlier this week for his misogynistic outburst against JOE political correspondent Ava Evans (known as va-Sanita on X) during an appearance on GB News. The actor was subsequently suspended by the channel.

On Tuesday’s episode of Dan Wootton Tonight, Fox said of Evans: “Show me a single self-respecting man that would like to climb into bed with that woman ever.”

He continued: “That little woman has been fed, spoon-fed oppression day after day… and she’s sat there and I’m going like, if I met you in a bar and that was like sentence three, [the] chances of me just walking away are just huge.

“We need powerful strong, amazing women who make great points for themselves,” Fox said, adding: “Who’d want to shag that?”

Laurence Fox. CREDIT: Guy Smallman/Getty Images

Several stars have spoken out against Fox in the past for making controversial comments, including his own brother-in-law Ayoade. The IT Crowd star is married to Fox’s sister, Lydia.

Back in 2020, the Lewis actor stirred up a race row when he weighed into the debate about Meghan Markle and systemic racism in the UK.

During an appearance on Question Time, Fox clashed with an audience member and said it was “racist” for him to be described as a “white privileged male” and that he was “bored” of people “throwing the race card” around.

In an interview with The Times, Fox said that Ayoade was furious with his comments, and that the former Travel Man presenter told him he had “never encountered racism”.

Fox replied: “Yeah, of course I have. I’ve encountered racism from black people towards me, when I was working in Kenya [as a safari driver] for seven months. It’s the way you’re spoken to — racism can be deferential.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Fox admitted that he “begged” Ayoade for help at the height of the controversy, but the comedian “was like what, [support you] on Twitter? It’s not real. It doesn’t exist, it’s mad. Stay away from it all. You know who I am and I know who you are”.

Following Fox’s recent suspension from GB News, the channel has since also taken the decision to suspend presenter Dan Wooten.