Amol Rajan in tense clash with GB News boss Angelos Frangopoulos

Amol Rajan in tense clash with GB News boss Angelos Frangopoulos as he insists he is ‘appalled’ by Laurence Fox’s comments on Ava Evans – but confirms he hasn’t been sacked yet

Amol Rajan clashed with GB News boss Angelos Frangopoulos during a tense BBC interview today – as he called Laurence Fox’s comments ‘appalling’ but confirmed he has not yet been sacked. 

Appearing on Dan Wootton’s GB News show on Tuesday, Mr Fox made a series of comments about political correspondent Ava Evans, including asking ‘who would want to s**g that?’. 

Opening his interview with Mr Frangopoulos on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning, Mr Rajan asked whether Fox had been fired from GB News or just suspended.  

Addressing the scandal publicly for the first time, the executive replied: ‘We have due process to follow so Laurence Fox has been suspended, there’s an investigation underway and we expect that to be completed very quickly.’

Mr Rajan asked: ‘Why do you need to investigate it? It doesn’t take very long to work out what happened.’ 

GB News boss Angelos Frangopoulos clashed with the BBC’s Amol Rajan on Radio 4 this morning 

Mr Fox yesterday apologised for his ‘demeaning comments before insisting ‘any self-respecting man should run a mile from’ her

Mr Frangopoulos said he was ‘appalled’ by Mr Fox’s rant but needed to follow ‘due process’ and ’employment law’. 

The BBC presenter then began quizzing him about GB News’ response to the scandal on Tuesday night. 

He said: ‘Ava Evans sent her tweet at around 10.09pm. That was around 25 minutes after the words were first uttered by Mr Fox. 

‘In the intervening period, did anyone from the production team, the gallery or senior executives raise any concerns with you?’

Mr Frangopoulos replied: ‘That is the subject of our investigation at the moment.’ 

READ MORE – Laurence Fox apologises for ‘demeaning’ Ava Evans comments then takes another swipe at journalist – before slamming GB News for ‘throwing me under the bus’ 

This angered Mr Rajan, who said: ‘Oh come on, come off it. That’s quite desperate isn’t it. You want the upside of being seen to have acted quickly by suspending Laurence Fox. 

‘What I want to know is did you respond to it kicking off on social media, or did you respond immediately because someone in the gallery said ”hang on, that shouldn’t have gone out”.’

Mr Frangopoulos, a former executive at Sky News Australia, said: ‘That process began before the tweet. We were well aware of what was said and we took immediate action off the back of it.’

The Radio 4 host then suggested GB News bosses would have been aware of what Mr Fox was going to say so should have stopped him. 

The former actor has himself claimed to have told producers about his comments in advance, including his planned use of the word ‘s**g’.

Mr Rajan said: ”Isn’t the truth that you wanted Laurence Fox to speak his mind? 

‘It’s not as if his opinions are a state secret, and far from being an aberration his comments this week were in keeping with his character.

‘Do you think it’s a really surprising thing that he had those opinions?

Mr Frangopoulos replied: ‘I disagree. Laurence Fox does sail close to the wind but he didn’t sail close to the wind earlier this week. That was way past the limits of acceptance.’ 

Several influential figures have called for GB News to be taken off air over the scandal.  

Mr Fox made a series of comments about political correspondent Ava Evans, including asking ‘who would want to s**g that?’

Caroline Nokes, the Commons Women and Equalities Committee chair, told the BBC’s Newsnight that there is a ‘really serious case to answer’ following the Laurence Fox comments

Sky News presenter Adam Boulton and Conservative MP Caroline Nokes are among those to call for the news channel to be stripped of its broadcast licence and go online only. 

But their comments sparked criticism, with Tim Montgomerie – editor of Conservative Home – saying that such a move would amount to ‘censorship’. 

He tweeted: ‘GBNews has some big issues to sort but here we go again – illiberal liberals like @adamboultonTABB rushing to censor and shut down alternative voices. 

‘Laurence Fox should be fired for repeated offences but closing down the whole station smacks of establishment authoritarianism.’

Brendan O’Neill, a columnist for The Spectator and chief politics writer for Spiked magazine, also slammed calls to shut down the channel. 

He called Mr Fox’s comments ‘odious’, but warned of ‘political censorship masquerading as a cry for social justice’.

‘It doesn’t matter what you think about Fox anymore,’ he wrote. ‘Or even GB News… 

‘No, all that matters now is what you think about media freedom, that hard-won right of the British people to set up newspapers, publishing houses and broadcasters. 

‘We cannot let that liberty go down in the flames of Fox’s GB News career.  

Caroline Nokes, the Commons Women and Equalities Committee chair, heavily criticised GB News on BBC Newsnight yesterday. 

She said there was a ‘really serious case to answer’ and insisted the channel should be ‘taken off air’.

Mr Fox (right) spoke about Ava Evans during Dan Wootton (left) Tonight on Tuesday

Tim Montgomerie – editor of Conservative Home – argued that trying to shut down GB News would amount to ‘censorship’ 

Urging Ofcom to investigate, she added: ‘I was appalled by a news channel broadcasting such blatantly misogynistic, outdated, hideous attitudes.

‘I think there is a really serious case to answer and I hope that Ofcom can conclude its investigations as swiftly as possible.

‘I think it should be taken off air, it was entirely predictable that Laurence Fox was going to come out with a statement that was that offensive.’

Sky’s Adam Boulton told Times Radio last night that GB News was ‘consistently flouting [Ofcom] rules… yet continuing to enjoy the privileges of being a broadcaster.

‘The issue is, in the internet age you can’t shut people up – that’s fine – but should you recognise them as broadcasters on a par with the BBC, ITN, Sky or Times Radio?

‘My answer is if you’re not going to abide by the rules, you should not have that protection or status… I think shut it down as a broadcaster, it can go online.’

Mr Fox apologised for his remarks yesterday in a video posted to X, formerly known as Twitter. 

He said he was angry with Ms Evans over comments she made on a BBC debate around male suicide and alleged she had a ‘dislike of men in general’, but apologised for ‘demeaning her’.

Mr Fox said he was angered by Ms Evans’ comments about men’s mental health and suicide on the BBC’s Politics Live on Monday, in which she dismissed calls for a dedicated minister on the issue

The campaigner added: ‘If I was going to be sensible and I could replay it, I would say: ‘Any self-respecting man in 2023 would probably be well advised to avoid a woman who possessed that world view because she would probably cause him nothing but harm’.

‘But what I did say was, you know, ‘I wouldn’t shag that’, and all that sort of stuff, which is not right. It’s demeaning to her, to Ava, so I’m sorry for demeaning you in that way. However angry I am with you still for doing that, and it demeans me because it’s not representative of who I am.’

He also said he expected to be sacked by GB News on Friday over the incident, adding: ‘I know I’m going to get sacked tomorrow. I’m saying this stuff to clear my own conscience.’

Speaking of GB News’ role, Mr Fox added: ‘GB News have opened themselves up for complete destruction, as far as I can tell, because they branded themselves as the home of free speech. 

‘Now, if you’re the home of free speech then what they could easily have done was say ‘Look what Laurence said was appalling, reprehensible but he’s got the right to say it, it’s is his opinion. Could he have expressed it better? Yes’.’

He said that he feels the channel is ‘actually the home of cancel culture, and they’re probably more at risk of cancel culture than any other channel’.

The exchange saw both Mr Fox and Mr Wootton suspended from the channel while an internal investigation takes place. Media watchdog Ofcom has also launched a probe into the channel after it received 7,300 complaints from viewers.

Yesterday a spokesperson for dmg media said: ‘Following events this week, dmg media can confirm that Dan Wootton’s freelance column with MailOnline – which had already been paused – has now been terminated, along with his contract.’ 

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