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In an exclusive interview with Julia Hartley-Brewer on TalkTV, Laurence Fox tells viewers he prejudiced his own case by saying he thought “it's absolutely fine for someone to hold an opinion that somebody is racist.“ Laurence Fox has said he hopes to appeal after losing a High Court libel battle with two people he referred to as paedophiles on social media. The actor-turned-politician was sued by former Stonewall trustee Simon Blake and drag artist Crystal over a row on Twitter, now known as X, in October 2020. Mr Fox called Mr Blake and the former RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant, whose real name is Colin Seymour, “paedophiles” in an exchange about a decision by Sainsbury’s to mark Black History Month. The Reclaim Party founder – who said at the time that he would boycott the supermarket – counter-sued the pair and broadcaster Nicola Thorp over tweets accusing him of racism. In a judgment on Monday, Mrs Justice Collins Rice ruled in favour of Mr Blake and Mr Seymour, dismissing Mr Fox’s counter-claims. She said: “Mr Fox’s labelling of Mr Blake and Mr Seymour as paedophiles was, on the evidence, probabilities and facts of this case, seriously harmful, defamatory and baseless. “The law affords few defences to defamation of this sort. “Mr Fox did not attempt to show these allegations were true, and he was not able to bring himself on the facts within the terms of any other defence recognised in law.” However, Mrs Justice Collins Rice did not make a ruling on whether describing Mr Fox as “a racist” is “substantially true”, after finding the three tweets in his counter-claim were unlikely to cause serious harm to his reputation. Click here for more from TalkTV If you need any help visit: #laurencefox #juliahartleybrewer #talktv
