HUMZA Yousaf has labelled Laurence Fox a “vile neanderthal” following his suspension from GB News due to comments made about journalist Ava Evans.
The channel confirmed on Wednesday morning that it had suspended Fox following a string of remarks about the politics correspondent for Joe.
Fox said Evans had been “spoon-fed oppression” and then later added: “Who would want to shag that?”
Reposting the clip on Twitter/X, the First Minister said: “What a vile neanderthal @LozzaFox is, and an example of bystander behaviour enabling such misogyny from the presenter.
“I’m so sorry @AvaSantina had to listen to this. It is why men have to step up and challenge misogynistic abuse wherever we see it. Pleased Ofcom investigating.”
Fox has stood by everything he said and told anyone expecting an apology not to “hold their breath”.
Writing in response to Yousaf, the Reclaim Party founder said: "The feeling is entirely mutual, you vile Neanderthal."
Fox shared a video of Yousaf speaking in Holyrood in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020 which is frequently cited as anti-white racism by the fringe right.
Fact checking service The Ferret investigated the widely shared clip in August and concluded the claim Yousaf had made an "anti-white speech is false".
Host Dan Wootton has also apologised for what was said on air and admitted he “should have done this immediately”. However, Fox has since shared messages between him and Wootton which appear to show the two hosts laughing at Fox's comments.
GB News said on Wednesday morning that it had launched an investigation into the comments before suspending Fox. But Fox (below) also shared messages which appeared to show the broadcaster had approved what he was going to say before it aired.
Ofcom aconfirmed that it has received a number of complaints and that it would look to assess them and produce an outcome “as quickly as possible”.
SNP MP John Nicolson said: “I welcome this investigation by @Ofcom into #GBNews and the vile misogynistic comments made by #LaurenceFox on the #DanWootton show last night.
“I hope #Ofcom investigates at greater speed than its usual snail-like pace. It’s not a complicated issue.”
In a separate post on Twitter/X, Nicolson commented on Fox’s suspension, saying: “GB News knew exactly what Fox was about before his vile rant.
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“It’s why they hired him. And the channel knew the specific content he was about to deliver. It was on presenter autocue.
“So this ‘investigation’ is cynical nonsense. Support and solidarity with @AvaSantina.”
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