Laurence Fox was accused of “spewing out biased views” during an interview segment on his GB News show that swiftly went off the rails.
The Lewis actor, who is a vocal critic of Covid-19 vaccines, was hosting his show on the news channel on Thursday (27 April), when he was joined by Dr Bharat Pankhania, a senior clinical lecturer at the University of Exeter’s medical school.
Asked his thoughts on a new report seen by GB News criticising the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) roll out of the vaccines, Pankhania told Fox: “I sometimes wonder why you exist, to be honest with you.”
With Fox looking shocked, the doctor continued: “A lot of these things that you spew out, just send things that are worrisome to people, are not verified, not factual.
“You just have your own agenda, that’s what I think. You are just spewing out your biased views. That’s how I feel about you.”
“I wasn’t asking you what you felt about me, I was asking you what you felt about the discussion,” Fox said, with Pankhania replying: “I feel [that] about you, your statements and the panellists that you brought together.
“I was brought up on this programme right now, told I’m going to have a one-to-one conversation with you, and suddenly I find myself in a panel discussion.”
Pankhania claimed he hadn’t read the report and hadn’t been told he was coming on GB News to discuss it, accusing Fox of an “ambush”.
Defending the MHRA, he added that the organisation was in a harder position post-Brexit, but concluded: “Having said all that, it is absolutely fit for purpose” and said that, when it comes to Covid-19 vaccines, “the good outweighs the harm by a large, large margin”.
The clip was widely shared, with Fox’s name trending on Twitter on Friday (28 April) afternoon.
“Expert slapping the wet fish of reality around the smug, entitled chops of Laurence Fox. There’s another expert they won’t be inviting back…” one tweet read.
“Always nice to see Laurence Fox getting his arse handed to him. But also, it sounds like GB News producers weren’t exactly straight with Dr. Pankhania when they were booking him. He obviously felt ambushed,” another wrote.
Another tweet read: “Stop what you are doing and watch this 30 second video of an academic confronting the risible @lozzafox with a dose of truth. Trust me.”
