Laurence Fox appeal LIVE: Actor arrives at court to appeal £180k ‘paedophile' row fine
Mental health campaigner Simon Blake, Drag star Crystal, and actress Nicola Thorp began legal proceedings against actor-turned-activist on 1 April, 2021.
The claimants allege Mr Fox defamed them on Twitter in October 2020. The comments have since been deleted.
Mr Fox defended his comments, claiming the term "paedophiles" was a "meaningless and baseless" insult. He said: "Free speech. You throw meaningless and baseless insults at someone you get a meaningless and baseless insult in return."
He added: "People can call me whatever they want."
Fox is now appealing against libel judgments after he was ordered to pay £180,000 in damages to Simon Blake and Drag star Crystal.
After losing the High Court case last year, Fox vowed to appeal the ruling and suggested £2 million had been spent on the legal battle.
At the time he said: "Today a judge in the High Court has ruled I didn't suffer any serious harm through the allegation of racism made against me, which is strange because at the same time she also declined to define the meaning of the word racist."
Of the appeal, he said: "That's another million quid we are going to have to spend to find out the meaning of a word every single person in this country knows."
11:35KEY EVENT
Laurence Fox puffs on cigarette as he arrives at Royal Court of Justice
Fox was pictured arriving at the Royal Court of Justice on Monday as he walked hand-in-hand with his wife Elizabeth Barker.
The wannabe politician stood outside the courts to finish his cigarette as he told photographs that he would not turn his back away from the cameras to pose for a picture ahead of the appeal.
Fox wore a white shirt and a pair of blue jeans as he arrived at the court. He also wore a pair of sunglasses and wore a pair of spectacles on his shirt.
When asked by a photgrapher if he could turn around and look at the camera, Fox replied: "No! Why would I want to look at you guys?"
09:07Susan Knox
Fox ordered to pay £180,000 in libel damages
Fox was ordered to pay £90,000 in damages two of the people he referred to as "paedophiles" in October 2020.
The actor-turned-politician lost a High Court libel case with former Stonewall trustee Simon Blake and drag artist Crystal.
In a post after the ruling, Mr Fox said he intended to appeal and today he is doing it at The Royal Courts of Justice.
In January, the court ruled in favour of Mr Blake and former RuPaul's Drag Race contestant Crystal, whose real name is Colin Seymour, and dismissed Mr Fox's counter-claims.
Mrs Justice Collins Rice said in her written ruling: "By calling Mr Blake and Mr Seymour paedophiles, Mr Fox subjected them to a wholly undeserved public ordeal.
"It was a gross, groundless and indefensible libel, with distressing and harmful real-world consequences for them.
"They are entitled by law to an award of money, to compensate them for those damaging effects, and to ensure that they can put this matter behind them, vindicated and confident that no-one can sensibly doubt their blamelessness of that disgusting slur and that they were seriously wronged by it."
The judge said there was "no element" of punishment for Mr Fox in the judgement, with the damages due "purely compensatory".
She said Mr Fox could be found guilty of contempt of court if he repeated the allegations against Mr Blake and Mr Seymour.
09:02Susan Knox
What did Fox say in his tweets to Simon Blake, Nicola Thorp, and drag artist Crystal?
The fall out started in October 2020 when Mr Fox announced on the social media platform he was boycotting Sainsbury's supermarket over their support of Black History Month and former Coronation Street actress Thorpe, Stonewall Trustee Blake, and drag queen Crystal criticised his tweet and accused him of racism – Laurence then responded in three separate tweets calling each of the trio "peadophiles".
After Fox shared his message about no longer shopping at the supermarket, Blake, CEO of Mental Health First Aid England and chair of Stonewall UK – who campaign for the equality of lesbian, gay, bi and trans people across Britain and abroad – retweeted his tweet and penned: "What a mess. What a racist t**t."
In response, Fox tweeted alongside Blake's message: "Pretty rich coming from a paedophile." Simon then replied: "Hi @LozzaFox - please would you remove this tweet as you know it to be untrue. Thanks." And Laurence used the same slur towards Nicola and Crystal as they embarked on an online debate.
Nicole also criticised the actor's post and wrote in one tweet: "Any company giving future employment to Laurence Fox, or providing him with a platform, does so with the complete knowledge that he is unequivocally, publicly and undeniably a racist. And they should probably re-read their own statements of 'solidarity' with the black community."
Laurence re-posted the message and typed: "Hey @nicolathorp_ Any company giving future employment to Nicola Thorpe or providing her with a platform does so with the complete knowledge that she is unequivocally, publicly and undeniably a paedophile."
Drag queen Crystal also replied to Fox, tweeting: "Imagine being this proud of being a racist. So cringe. Total snowflake behaviour." Fox, 42, responded to the star - real name Colin Munro - writing: "Says the paedophile", in a tweet that has since been deleted.
09:00Susan Knox
Why is Laurence Fox in court today?
Laurence Fox is appealling against libel judgments after calling two people 'paedophiles' in a bitter social media row.
Fox is challenging two High Court rulings after he was ordered to pay a total of £180,000 in damages to two people he was found to have libelled when he referred to them as paedophiles on social media.
Mental health campaigner Simon Blake, Drag star Crystal, and actress Nicola Thorp began legal proceedings against actor-turned-activist on 1 April, 2021.
The claimants allege Mr Fox defamed them on Twitter in October 2020. The comments have since been deleted.
Mr Fox defended his comments, claiming the term "paedophiles" was a "meaningless and baseless" insult. He said: "Free speech. You throw meaningless and baseless insults at someone you get a meaningless and baseless insult in return."
He added: "People can call me whatever they want."
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