Ava Evans, a political correspondent, has been caught up in a media storm after she was publicly subjected to a vitriolic attack by Laurence Fox.
Last Tuesday, Fox appeared on GB News and made a series of derogatory remarks after disagreeing with her opinion.
Taking aim at the female journalist even though she wasn’t present, Fox questioned whether anyone would want to “climb into bed with that woman” before adding “who’d want to shag that?”.
The fallout of the on-air incident has resulted in the suspensions of Fox and presenter Dan Wootton, as well as an investigation into the “inappropriate” comments.
Later, Fox would ultimately be sacked, after it was reported that he had been arrested by the Met Police at his London home on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage to ULEZ cameras.
“Laurence Fox and Calvin Robinson were both suspended last week pending internal investigations that have now concluded,” reads a statement from GB News. “As of today, GB News has ended its employment relationship with Laurence Fox and Calvin Robinson. The internal investigation into Dan Wootton continues.”
At the heart of this, however, is also a journalist who later admitted that she’s faced threats since Fox’s remarks and is “deeply embarrassed” by the ordeal.
So who is Ava Evans and what was Laurence Fox’s problem?
Who is Ava Evans?
Ava Evans is a journalist who currently works as the political correspondent for the news platform, Joe.
She usually covers topics such as trade unions and stories about Westminister.
She has been propelled into the spotlight after Fox launched a misogynistic rant about the journalist after she addressed the topic of male suicide.
What roles has she had?
According to her LinkedIn, Ava has worked as Joe’s political correspondent for the past two years.
Prior to this, she held various positions at Global’s LBC Radio.
Based on her profile, Ava has also worked for various outlets, including BBC News, Condé Nast, and Wired.
What did Ava Evans say before Laurence Fox’s remarks?
Evans and Fox weren’t even on the same programme. In fact, the journalist had spoken a day earlier on BBC’s Politics Live about the topic of men’s mental health.
Responding to a suggestion that a minister of men could be appointed to help tackle men’s mental health, Evans said that it might feed into a ‘culture war’. She added that it’s a crisis that everyone faces.
She said: “I think that it feeds into the culture war a little bit, this minister for men argument.
“[Mental illness] is a crisis that’s endemic throughout the country, not specific to men. And I think a lot of ministers bandy this about to — I’m sorry — make an enemy out of women.”
After her appearance on the show, she said: “I was a little rash on my anti-minister for men comments, which I do regret and am actually very interested in a brief for a minister on young men’s mental health.”
What did Laurence Fox say about Ava Evans?
A day later, actor-turned-politician Fox appeared on Dan Wooton’s Tonight show on GB News where he was asked about the recent remarks. Instead of responding to her position on the matter, Fox instead took aim at her appearance.
Fox launched into a furious tirade in which he branded Evans a “little woman” before adding: “Show me a single self-respecting man that would like to climb into bed with that woman ever, ever, who wasn’t an incel.
“We need powerful, strong, amazing women who make great points for themselves. We don’t need these sort of feminist 4.0. They’re pathetic and embarrassing. Who’d want to shag that?”
“Sorry, it’s true though,” he added, as both he and Wootton appeared to smirk.
What has happened to Laurence Fox and Dan Wootton?
Both Laurence Fox and Dan Wootton have now been suspended from the right-leaning channel.
In a statement, GB News confirmed: “GB News has suspended Dan Wootton following comments made on his programme by Laurence Fox last night. This follows our decision earlier today to formally suspend Mr Fox. We are conducting a full investigation.”
Evans had previously revealed that she’d received an apology from GB News, explaining: “It was an email from the editor — a very gracious email — basically telling me that what Fox said was not representative of the rest of the GB News outfit.”
She also received a public apology from Wootton, who said: “Having looked at the footage, I can see how inappropriate my reaction to his totally unacceptable remarks appears to be and want to be clear that I was in no way amused by the comments… I should have intervened immediately to challenge offensive and misogynistic remarks.”
