Laurence Fox has lost a High Court libel case after branding two men “paedophiles” on social media. The actor and political activist was sued by former Stonewall trustee Simon Blake and drag artist Crystal, whose real name is Colin Seymour, over a 2020 exchange on Twitter, now known as X.
The row began when Fox criticised Sainsbury’s for celebrating Black History Month, accusing the supermarket of promoting “racial segregation and discrimination”. In response to Blake and Seymour, Fox called them “paedophiles”. The pair sued for defamation, while Fox counter-sued them and actress Nicola Thorp over tweets accusing him of racism.
High Court judge Mrs Justice Collins Rice ruled in favour of Blake and Seymour, dismissing Fox’s counter-claims. She stated: “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 judge added that Fox had not attempted to prove the allegations were true and could not rely on any other legal defence.
Outside court, Fox vowed to appeal, suggesting £2 million had been spent on the legal battle. “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,” he said.
Crystal welcomed the ruling, saying in a statement: “We won on all counts. This victory is a victory of free speech. Free speech does not cover factual allegations of criminality such as paedophilia.” He noted that since Fox’s comment, he had been re-labelled as a paedophile dozens of times and received physical threats.
