Laurence Fox loses High Court libel battle against men he branded ‘paedophiles’
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Laurence Fox has lost 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 ruling on Monday, High Court judge 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.”
Fox described as alleged ‘intelligent racist’
During a trial in London in November, Mr Fox was described as an alleged “intelligent racist with an agenda”.
Lorna Skinner KC, representing Mr Blake, Mr Seymour and Ms Thorp, said the trio “honestly believed, and continue honestly to believe, that Mr Fox is a racist”.
In his written evidence for the case, Mr Seymour, a Canadian artist, said he had faced “overwhelming and distressing” abuse after Mr Fox’s tweet, adding that he felt less safe as a drag performer.
Mr Blake, now chief executive of Mental Health First Aid England, said the incorrect suggestion that gay men are paedophiles is “a trope as old as the hills”.
However, Patrick Green KC, representing Mr Fox, told the court that neither Mr Blake nor Mr Seymour “has suffered any actual, real-world consequences” due to the actor’s tweets.
Mr Fox told the court he was “horrified” when he saw he had been called a racist, which he later described as “a career-ending word and a reputation-destroying allegation”.
The actor said he faced a “significant decline” in the number and quality of roles he was offered after he was accused of being a racist in the social media row.
‘Ruling is a nothing burger’
Speaking outside the Royal Courts of Justice on Monday, Mr Fox described the ruling in his libel case as a “nothing burger”.
He said: “It means that we’re going to have to go back to court, to appeal, to get a meaning of this word.
“What is a racist? Every single person in this country knows what a racist is, except the people that dominate every single national institution that we have.”
Mr Fox added: “Racism as a term is used just as a point of disagreement, and a point of ‘I don’t like you, therefore you’re a racist’.
“This is a great, wonderful country and I admire and I respect this country, and I fight for it and I fight for my children and I fight for everybody else out there who doesn’t have my platform who gets called these vicious slurs, and I just want a definition of the word.”
