A right-wing television network suspended two hosts who made crude and inappropriate comments about a female journalist.

On Wednesday, British news network GB News — founded in 2021 as a U.K. version of Fox News — suspended presenter Dan Wootton over a segment with fellow co-host Laurence Fox about Ava Evans, a reporter for PoliticsJOE.

The subject of the segment was Evans’ recent appearance on BBC Politics Live where she discussed men’s mental health.

Fox embarked on a shockingly sexist tirade about Evans, first saying: “Show me a single, self-respecting man that would like to climb into bed with that woman, ever. That wasn’t an incel.”

It got worse from there:

That little woman has been spoon-fed oppression day after day after day, starting with the lie about the gender pay gap. She sat there, and I’m going like, if I met you at a bar and that was like sentence three, chances of me just walking away are just huge We need powerful, strong, amazing women who make great points for themselves. We don’t need these feminist 4.0. They’re pathetic and embarrassing. Who’d want to shag that?

Wootton chuckled through Fox’s commentary before calling Evans a “beautiful woman” and noting that she partially walked back her comments.

Evans took to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, to share the segment, commenting: “I feel physically sick.”

Fox was suspended by GB News the morning after the segment. The network announced later on that Wootton was also suspended.

“We are conducting a full investigation,” the network said.

Before his suspension, Wootton got on social media twice to apologize over the segment.

Having looked at the footage, I can see how inappropriate my reaction to his totally unacceptable remarks appears to be and want to be clear that I was in no way amused by the comments.

I reacted as I did out of shock and surprise in an off guard moment while working out how to respond as he continued to speak by searching for tweets @AvaSantina had sent earlier in the day while having them read out in my ear at the same time.

However, I should have intervened immediately to challenge offensive and misogynistic remarks.

I apologise unreservedly for what was a very unfortunate lapse in judgement on my part under the intense pressure of a bizarre exchange.

I know I should have done better. I’m devastated that I let down the team and our supportive GBN family.
We seek to tackle the issue and not the person, which I intend to stress again on air tonight.

“I think you’re brilliant,” Wootton said of Evans:

Meanwhile, Fox offered no contrition in light of his suspension, declaring “I stand by every word of what I said. If a woman wants to go on television and belittle male suicide, she is totally within her rights to do so and not apologise, just as I am totally within my rights to say that I wouldn’t want to shag a hyper offended 4th wave feminist and not apologise…”

Fox also shared his text messages with Wootton, showing his co-host’s private reaction to the segment.

Evans also reacted to the controversy in an appearance on the Evening Standard Wednesday, saying she was “speechless” and “really hurt” over Fox’s comments.

“I’m shocked by it, actually. I’m shocked that it went out.” She said. “This is the sort of talk that you worry that men have about you when you’re not in the room. There’s always a worry in the back of your mind which is ‘Are people actually interested in what I’m saying or what I’m doing, or are they just looking at me physically?’ And I think that clip proves there are some men who are.”

This isn’t the first time Wootton has found himself at the center of controversy this year. Over the summer, Wootton was accused of using an alias to message his former colleagues at The Sun, offering them money in exchange for sexually explicit images. Wootton denied the criminal accusations against him, and GB News chief Angelos Frangopoulos said they would keep him on air because “as far we are aware, none of these allegations have been admitted or proved by an independent body. GB News continues to monitor the situation. Were a formal complaint to be raised by a member of our staff, then GB News would, of course, take appropriate steps.”

The post Right-Wing Network Suspends Two Hosts Over Insanely Sexist Comments Made Live On-Air first appeared on Mediaite.

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