Lawrence Fox is a total loser

[JohnD]

Has Lauren Fox offered the "diminished responsibility" excuse yet?

Seems to be a bit of a nutter.

 

[blup]

Indeed.

The judge ruled that Fox's comments caused serious harm, and that the defences to defamation were not made out i.e. it was not the truth that they were paedohiles and also the honest opinion defence did not apply.

As regards Fox's claim, the judge decided that it could not be proved that being called a racist had caused him serious harm, because of his other patterns of behaviour. Therefore his case fell at the first hurdle. As a result, she did not need to consider the possible defences of whether it was the truth that Fox is a racist or whether the honest opinion defence applied.

It seems strange that no decision was made on whether the wording was racsist, but at the same time decided it wouldn't cause his reputation serious harm. He had lost his agent and career as a result. Maybe juries should be entrusted with these decisions after all.

 

[JonathanM]

It seems strange that no decision was made on whether the wording was racsist

What wording? Do you mean Fox's original tweet about Sainsbury's policy?

He had lost his agent and career as a result.

That was not proved. It was difficult because his agent did not give any evidence.

"I do not have a sufficient evidential basis for considering the tweets sued on more probably than not causative of Ms Latimer’s decision, so as to make it fair to fix their authors with responsibility for it. It is not inherently more probable than some or all of the many alternatives"

 

[blup]

What wording? Do you mean Fox's original tweet about Sainsbury's policy?

The tweet

That was not proved. It was difficult because his agent did not give any evidence.

It was fairly self evident to me why he was dropped, got the impression the judge didn’t want to decide on the point. There was no other likely cause was there? Like the phone that got lost at sea. I’m just saying that the judge had some discretion on fact finding and it could have gone the other way.

 

[Bod ...]

.

 

[JonathanM]

It was fairly self evident to me why he was dropped, got the impression the judge didn’t want to decide on the point. There was no other likely cause was there?

The judge spends five pages discussing the possible reasons why Fox might have been dropped by his agent, before deciding that she can't attribute it to the tweets which called him racist. It includes discussion of his Question Time appearance and the ensuing media furore. She looks at whether a very prestigious agent might want to be representing the leader of a controversial political party. Probably most importantly, she reproduces a letter from Fox to his agent, from before the tweets, where it is clear they are having an issue and Fox asks his agent not to "give up on me".

I reproduce this in full, because it is closely contemporaneous documentary evidence of how matters stood between Mr Fox and his agent, from his perspective, before the tweets of which he complains. From it can readily be inferred a number of things. First, Ms Latimer and Mr Fox had disagreed about the desirability of his #AllLivesMatter sign-off and the message it sent. That is unlikely to have been an isolated issue; the sign-off was a standing signifier of Mr Fox’s political mission and world view. Second,it acknowledges (a) that Mr Fox had already experienced ‘being shunned’ as an actor for his views and (b) he thought ‘Showbusiness’ culture was particularly inimical to those views – it was a staunch adherent to the orthodoxy of the ‘new religion’. Third, it confirms that Mr Fox by this time had a full-time job with Reclaim for which (as he later confirmed in evidence) he was being remunerated to the tune of a quarter of a million pounds a year. Fourth, it confirms that at that time Mr Fox already had reason to apprehend that Ms Latimer might be minded to ‘give up on’ him. And fifth, it suggests Mr Fox thought that the best way to persuade her not to do so was to deliver an impassioned statement of his political mission. That last may have been rather naïve. Perhaps an agent is more interested in being convinced of a passionate commitment to developing an acting career than in being lectured on political or cultural ideas.

 

[blup]

The judge spends five pages discussing the possible reasons why Fox might have been dropped by his agent, before deciding that she can't attribute it to the tweets which called him racist. It includes discussion of his Question Time appearance and the ensuing media furore. She looks at whether a very prestigious agent might want to be representing the leader of a controversial political party. Probably most importantly, she reproduces a letter from Fox to his agent, from before the tweets, where it is clear they are having an issue and Fox asks his agent not to "give up on me".

On the other hand the "other reasons" show it was potentially a straw that broke the camel's back scenario. Even if the agent gave evidence against LF, it's for the judge to conclude the actual extent of harm to reputation. So enough there for a different conclusion. It will be interesting to see if he appeals.

 

[JP_]

I hadn't read about this but see the headlines. Nice you can't just go round calling people Pedophiles. He really is digging himself a bigger hole. But he's right being called a racist is just as harmful. It really has screwed his life up.

This sums it up, and the judge would be well aware of his antics.

"The same man who later told a black man to ‘f*** off back to Jamaica’, posted pride flags in the shape of a swastika and shared blacked up images of himself and his children.

"It’s time that Mr Fox accepted that any damage to his reputation is entirely his own doing."

Laurence Fox loses libel battle over 'paedophiles' social media row

High Court judge rules the Lewis actor libelled former Stonewall trustee Simon Blake and drag artist Crystal online

www.standard.co.uk

 

[JP_]

Has Lauren Fox offered the "diminished responsibility" excuse yet?

Seems to be a bit of a nutter.

Yes, his defence should have been "sorry, I know not what I do, I'm a stupid racist nonce".

Might have got away with it then.

 

[Bod ...]

This sums it up, and the judge would be well aware of his antics.

"The same man who later told a black man to ‘f*** off back to Jamaica’, posted pride flags in the shape of a swastika and shared blacked up images of himself and his children.

"It’s time that Mr Fox accepted that any damage to his reputation is entirely his own doing."

Laurence Fox loses libel battle over 'paedophiles' social media row

High Court judge rules the Lewis actor libelled former Stonewall trustee Simon Blake and drag artist Crystal online

www.standard.co.uk

If he's said those things then he's hard to defend. However if the black mam was equally as rude and started the argument then that's a different matter.

Ant & Dec blacked up. Still on TV.

The swastika thing seems to.mevto be a man who's loosing the plot.

 

[JP_]

The swastika thing seems to.mevto be a man who's loosing the plot.

I think he has. He should get together with Katie Hopkins, they've both gone on social media ****ed and revealed how vile they really are.

 

[JonathanM]

According to the Times, LF's latest comment is this:

Like the ridiculous language policing where it’s ok to shorten. “Australian” to “Aussie” but to shorten “Pakistani” to “P@ki” is in some way a mortal sin.

I remember wondering something similar myself. But in my defence, I was 9 years old.

Dear Laurence Fox, let me explain why you can’t use the n-word

Dear Laurence Fox,I would like to say my heart goes out to you for losing your libel trial this week but my heart seems to be staying put. Obstinate little fella, my heart, does its own thing. Now, to

www.thetimes.co.uk

 

[IT Minion]

He's on £250k a year as leader of the Reclaim party. If you're going to be spouting racist crap then it's nice to be paid.

 

[Bod ...]

I think he has. He should get together with Katie Hopkins, they've both gone on social media ****ed and revealed how vile they really are.

I think he has lost the plot. He is a very bitter man. But I get this. His mental health has been shot to bits.
The worst thing that man has done was to appear on question time and think he could speak his mind.

 

[Brigadier]

His mental health has been shot to bits.

He did this to himself.

He's really screwed his life up.