Ava Evans has described on-air comments made about her by Laurence Fox on GB News as “unforgivable”.
The actor-turned-politician has been suspended by the channel after he made a series of comments about the political correspondent on Tuesday, including asking “who would want to shag that?”
The programme’s host Dan Wootton has also been suspended, with the channel confirming on Friday that Calvin Robinson has also been suspended after showing support on social media for his fellow presenter.
Ms Evans, who works for the website Politics JOE, told the Daily Mail: “It would have been horrible for a woman to hear she was being discussed in those terms in the pub.
“I’m not naive. I know that men talk like that about women. But this was on national TV. It was demeaning. It was dehumanising.
“As if it was an option for him to have sex with me. As if men get to look at you and decide if they want to… Unforgivable.”
She said the worst part of the experience had been explaining it to her father.
“My dad was just confused. He said: ‘But why would he say this? Have you dated him?’ He just didn’t get it,” she said.
“My parents didn’t go to university. They have ordinary jobs and have always been so proud of what I do and have achieved.
“Why should my choice of career – political reporting – mean I have to contend with this?”
A former producer for LBC radio, she said she would have acted to stop the comments if she had been working the Dan Wootton Tonight show.
“If I had been the producer on that show and the presenter wasn’t listening to commands to shut it down, I would have taken that show off the air, no question. It should never have been allowed to go as far as it did.”
Ms Evans told the Daily Mail she fears for her safety after the messages and threats she has received.
She criticised Conservative Party MP Lee Anderson for the way he publicised an interview with home secretary Suella Braverman on GB News, but did not comment on Mr Fox’s comments about her.
“This is an elected representative and he hasn’t said anything publicly, or to me, and I know him,” she said. I have worked with him.
“I felt it showed contempt, really. By not saying anything, does he agree that it was OK to sexualise me?
“What am I supposed to think when I meet him in the office, or the parliamentary bar? And this isn’t about me. It’s about every woman working in the lobby.”
GB News chief executive Angelos Frangopoulos said on Friday he was “appalled” by the remarks, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme they should not have gone to air.
He issued a personal apology to Ms Evans, saying: “[The comments] did not reflect what we believe is appropriate conversation as a media company, as a part of the national conversation, it really is an apology, it was just really inappropriate.”
He said GB News has a “process to follow” but he expects the internal investigation into the suspended presenters to be “resolved very quickly”.
MailOnline announced on Thursday that it had terminated its contract with Mr Wootton, who was a columnist for the site.
Mr Wootton has issued an apology to Ms Evans, suggesting he should have intervened during the broadcast, while Mr Fox said he was “sorry for demeaning” the journalist.
