Popular actor Laurence Fox has been ordered by a High Court to pay £180,000 in damages to two people after he referred to them as paedophiles on X (formerly known as Twitter). The actor and politician was sued by Simon Blake, a former Stonewall trustee, and Crystal, a drag artist after they got into an online dispute on social media.
During a conversation regarding Sainsbury's decision to celebrate Black History Month in October 2020, Mr Fox referred to Blake and Crystal, also known as Colin Seymour, a former contestant on ‘RuPaul's Drag Race’, as "pedophiles." This sparked a battle between them with Fox counter-suing Blake, Crystal, and broadcaster Nicola Thorp over tweets accusing him of racism.
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According to a judgment delivered in January, Mrs Justice Collins Rice ruled the hearing in favour of Blake and Crystal. Fox’s counterclaims were dismissed. In a subsequent ruling on Thursday, the judge ordered Fox to pay £90,000 in damages to both the parties. Rice said, “By calling Mr Blake and Mr Crystal pedophiles, 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.”
Speaking on ‘Good Morning Britain’, Crystal said, “The feeling is vindication. It took three-and-a-half years to get to this point, but it was incredibly vindicating to see the judges’ comments and the hurt that Fox caused me recognised, and obviously, the money is great on top, but yeah, it is very vindicating.”
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Responding to these developments, Fox has also come out with a statement. He claimed that both the parties did not suffer any harm. He said, “None of the claimants could provide a single witness in court to support the claim that they had suffered any harm. So surreal it’s almost funny. Lady Justice ain’t blind. She’s got both eyes wide open.” Fox mentioned that he would be appealing once again.
