Nicola Thorp has sued Laurence Fox for defamation with two others after he called them ‘peadophiles’.
The former Coronation Street star took legal action against the Lewis actor, as did Crystal from Drag Race UK and Simon Blake, boss of the charity Mental Health First Aid England.
What happened between Laurence Fox and Nicola Thorpe?
Laurence used the offending language against the trio in new-deleted tweets following a row over Sainsbury’s support of Black History Month.
They filed their lawsuit for defamation in the High Court on April 1.
It lists Nicola, Simon and Crystal – under birth name Colin Seymour – as claimants.
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Sainsbury’s tweeted in October last year: “We are proud to celebrate Black History Month together with our Black colleagues, customers and communities and we will not tolerate racism.
“We proudly represent and serve our diverse society and anyone who does not want to shop with an inclusive retailer is welcome to shop elsewhere.”
What did Laurence say about Sainsbury’s?
In response, Laurence tweeted: “Dear @sainsburys, I won’t be shopping in your supermarket ever again whilst you promote racial segregation and discrimination.”
Simon tweeted back: “What a mess. What a racist [bleep]” and in reply, Laurence said: “Pretty rich coming from a paedophile.”
I will not stand for racism when I see it, and I will not stand for homophobic defamation.
Similar language was used against Crystal and Nicola.
Simon later said: “Mr Fox seriously defamed me. I have instructed Mark Lewis from Patron Law to sue for defamation.”
I detest racism. Challenging it is important to me, but I will choose my words more carefully in future. I want to be the best ally I can to people impacted by racism. pic.twitter.com/QhQgkCZBLB
— Simon Blake (@Simonablake) October 5, 2020
Crystal ‘won’t stand for homophobic defamation’
Similarly, Canadian Crystal wrote on Twitter: “I will not stand for racism when I see it. And I will not stand for homophobic defamation when it is directed at me.
“An accusation of paedophilia is one of the oldest homophobic tropes. It was very shocking to have that levelled at me, not just by Mr Fox, but also his many followers who believed him.”
After removing the tweets, Laurence – who has launched a bid to become London Mayor – said: “I have deleted the tweets posted yesterday, in response to being repeatedly, continuously and falsely smeared as a racist.”
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He also addressed the offending tweets on Jeremy Vine, saying they came in response to “10 months… of being called a racist”, which he said was a “career-ending slur”.
Laurence continued: “If the point is that words mean nothing, seeing as it’s a totally baseless allegation and is entirely in opposition to what my feelings are, I thought, you know what, if words meaning nothing nowadays, I can call you anything I want in return.”
ED! contacted Laurence Fox’s reps for comment.
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