A charity boss, a drag star, and an actress have launched legal proceedings against actor-turned-activist Laurence Fox.
The lawsuit is brought by Simon Blake, deputy chair of LGBT charity Stonewall, RuPaul’s Drag Race star Crystal, and Coronation Street actress Nicola Thorp after a Twitter spat with Fox in 2020.
In October 2020, Mr Blake and Crystal had threatened to sue Fox after they had a row on Twitter, with Fox calling them “paedophiles”.
RuPaul’s Drag Race start Crystal has teamed up with Mr Blake and Ms Thorp to bring the defamation law suit against Fox
In a separate Twitter thread, Fox also labelled Ms Thorp as a “paedophile”.
Fox was embroiled in the heated exchange after he accused Sainsbury’s of “promoting racial segregation and discrimination” following the supermarket’s Black History Month campaign last year.
Crystal, Mr Blake and Ms Thorp all said that they disagreed with Fox’s view on the campaign, with Mr Blake labelling Fox as a “racist t***”.
Mr Blake, who is also chief executive of Mental Health First Aid England, later said he regretted using such language.
Fox later deleted the tweets, saying at the time that he had taken them down after being “repeatedly, continuously and falsely smeared as a racist”.
The trio have instructed law firm Patron Law on their defamation lawsuit. Crystal and Mr Blake initially threatened legal proceedings last year, but officially filed the claim in the High Court on 1 April.
Ms Thorp is also named as a claimant, along with Mr Blake and Crystal.
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In September 2020, Fox announced he was setting up a new political party “to fight the culture wars” and said he intended to stand candidates at the next general election.
On 7 March, Fox announced that he is going to stand for mayor of London.
As leader of the Reclaim Party, he said that if he is elected he would lift lockdown the day after the 6 May polls – even though power to do so rests solely with the prime minister.
And he has also promised free Tube and bus travel for six months after lockdown, although such a proposal would likely bankrupt Transport for London.
He is the son of actor James Fox and part of the Fox acting dynasty along with his brother, Jack, and cousins, Emilia and Freddie.
Mr Blake, Crystal, Ms Thorp, Patron Law and Fox have been approached for comment.