Laurence Fox says paedophile a meaningless insult after being sued
Former actor, who is running for London Mayor, being taken to court by three claimants after comments he made online
7 April 2021 • 8:00pm
Laurence Fox, pictured at the launch of his manifesto for the London mayoral election
Credit: Leon Neal/ Getty Images Europe
Laurence Fox has said paedophile is a meaningless insult in response to defamation claims levelled against him.
The former actor, who founded the Reclaim Party and is running for London Mayor, is being sued by Stonewall trustee Simon Blake, Coronation Street actress Nicola Thorp and drag artist Crystal after comments he made online in October.
Leader of the Reclaim Party, Laurence Fox (Ian West/PA)
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London mayoral hopeful Laurence Fox used the launch of his manifesto to defend his right to call people “paedophiles” on Twitter, citing free speech and claiming it is just a “meaningless and baseless” insult.
The former actor, who founded the Reclaim Party, is being sued by Stonewall trustee Simon Blake, Coronation Street actress Nicola Thorp and drag artist Crystal over an online spat in October last year.
BBC News
Published
image captionLaurence Fox is running to be mayor of London on 6 May
London mayoral candidate Laurence Fox is being sued for libel after he called three people paedophiles on Twitter.
Mental health campaigner Simon Blake, Drag star Crystal, and actress Nicola Thorp began legal proceedings against actor-turned-activist on 1 April.
The claimants allege Mr Fox defamed them on Twitter in October. The comments have since been deleted.
Mr Fox defended his comments, claiming the term paedophiles was a meaningless and baseless insult.
During the manifesto launch for the Reclaim party, which Mr Fox leads, he said he was unaware of the defamation case.
Laurence Fox today defended his right to call people paedophiles on Twitter, citing free speech and claiming it was just a meaningless and baseless insult that he made in response to being unfairly smeared as a racist by a drag queen who is now suing him.
The actor became embroiled in a heated exchange with a number of Twitter users including Ru Paul s Drag Race UK star Crystal, Coronation Street actress Nicola Thorp and deputy chair of Stonewall, Simon Blake.
The trio had all called him a racist in tweets replying to his post accusing Sainsbury s of promoting racial segregation and discrimination and promised to boycott the supermarket chain after it promoted Black History Month.
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