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The actor Laurence Fox has misplaced his High Court libel battle with two people he known as paedophiles on social media.
The proper wing activist was sued by former Stonewall trustee Simon Blake and drag artist Crystal over a row on Twitter, now generally known as X, in October 2020.
The alternate concerned a choice by Sainsury’s to supply a secure area for black workers throughout Black History Month, with Fox, 45, calling for a boycott of the grocery store.
The Lewis star, who based the Reclaim Party, accused the store of selling racial segregation and discrimination and was referred to as a racist by Mr Bale and the previous former RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant, whose actual title is Colin Seymour.
Fox referred to as the ruling as a ‘nothing burger’
(PA)
He subsequently termed the two and actor Nicola Thorp “paedophiles”, prompting them to launch libel motion whereas he counter-sued them.
In her ruling, Mrs Justice Collins Rice described Laurence Fox’s “labelling” of two males as paedophiles in a social media row “seriously harmful, defamatory and baseless”.
She continued: “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 counter-sued the trio after he was called a racist
(Getty Images)
Speaking outside the Royal Courts of Justice, Mr Fox described the ruling in his libel case as a “nothing burger”.
He stated: “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.”
During a trial in London in November, Mr Fox was described was an alleged “intelligent racist with an agenda”.
Lorna Skinner KC, representing Mr Blake, Mr Seymour and Ms Thorp, stated the trio “honestly believed, and continue honestly to believe, that Mr Fox is a racist”.
Fox received concerned in a social media row after a publish he made about Sainsbury’s (Ian West/PA)
(PA Archive)
She stated the actor “has made a number of highly controversial statements about race”, including: “If and to the extent that Mr Fox has been harmed in his reputation, it is his own conduct and not the claimants’ comments on it that caused that harm.”
The barrister highlighted a number of of Mr Fox’s social media posts, together with a June 2022 tweet of 4 satisfaction flags organized within the form of a swastika.
Mrs Justice Collins Rice didn’t make a ruling on whether or not or not Laurence Fox was “a racist”, after discovering the three tweets in his counter-claim have been unlikely to trigger critical hurt to his repute.
In his written proof for the case, Mr Seymour, a Canadian artist, stated he had confronted overwhelming and distressing abuse after Mr Fox’s tweet, including that he felt much less secure as a drag performer.
Mr Blake, now chief government of Mental Health First Aid England, stated the inaccurate suggestion that homosexual males have been paedophiles was “a trope as old as the hills”.
Broadcaster Nicola Thorp claimed that Mr Fox had “outed himself as a racist” with a tweet calling for a boycott of the grocery store.
She stated that any reputational hurt Mr Fox suffered “was because of what he did, not because of what I said”.
Fox stated he was ‘horrified’ to have been referred to as a racist (Ian West/PA)
(PA Archive)
Patrick Green KC, representing Mr Fox, advised the courtroom neither Mr Blake nor Mr Seymour has suffered any precise penalties because of the actor’s tweets.
The barrister stated the posts didn’t trigger people to suppose worse of Mr Blake and Mr Seymour, and that people didn’t imagine they have been paedophiles.
Instead, Mr Green stated readers would have understood that Mr Fox’s posts have been a “retort to an allegation of racism” quite than a factual allegation.
Mr Fox advised the courtroom he was horrified when he noticed he had been referred to as a racist, which he later described as “a career-ending word and a reputation-destroying allegation”.
In written proof, he claimed that by 2020, he ewas incomes no less than £500,000 to £600,000 from appearing however his life was destroyed by their accusation and he was unable to get a mortgage.
Faeces was posted via his door and his ex-wife Billie Piper, an actor with whom he shares two sons, grew to become involved that their youngsters have been now not secure in his home.
The actor stated he confronted a major decline within the quantity and high quality of roles he was provided after he was accused of being a racist within the social media row.
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