Laurence Fox claims there is a ‘concerted drive’ in the acting world to make him ‘be quiet’

Laurence Fox has said there is a ‘concerted drive’ in the acting world to make him ‘be quiet’ about his controversial views after his rant on Question Time.

The actor told Talkradio the move was motivated by people finding some of his views controversial.

It follows Fox appearing on BBC’s Question Time in January and facing a backlash after he claimed the Duchess of Sussex had not been a victim of racism.

He subsequently hit out at black and working class actors for complaining about the industry once they have ‘five million quid in the bank’.

The star of ITV drama Lewis said there has since been ‘quite a concerted drive to make me be quiet’.

He told radio host Julia Hartley-Brewer: ‘You can’t just shut everybody up, there’s an emotional and an intellectual fragility to people who won’t tolerate dissenting voices.’

Fox added that cancel culture, where people face calls for their careers to be ended over perceived missteps, is ‘very dangerous’.

Society needs to ‘talk and debate’, he said, claiming that ‘cancel culture creates an even more myopic monoculture and who wants that’.

He said the ‘woke religion lacks a lot of rationality’, adding: ‘Their approach is to try and destroy lives.’

‘I think this very leftist agenda has been marching through our institutions for decades. It is a very divisive tactic and people don’t want to be divided, they want to be united.’

Fox accused Rachel Boyle, an academic at Edge Hill University, of racism after she called him ‘a white privileged male’ on Question Time. 

The star of ITV drama Lewis, above, told Talkradio’s Julia Hartley-Brewer the move was motivated by people finding some of his views controversial

The actor courted further controversy this month after a tweet in which he said: ‘Every single human life is precious. The end.’

He criticised the ethnicity lecturer’s charges of racism amid claims that Meghan Markle was being hounded out of Britain on account of her skin colour. 

Fox, who was previously married to Billie Piper, was then embroiled in yet a further controversy after he was forced to apologise for comments he made about the inclusion of a Sikh soldier in Sam Mendes blockbuster 1917. 

Later writing in the  Spectator, he said: ‘I have come to the conclusion that I may never get an acting job again without expressing ‘correct’ opinions. 

‘While this probably isn’t the end of the world for you, it is a cause of some sadness and anxiety for me. 

‘Not least because I’ve always loved my job and also because I have two children who need dinner and clothes and a holiday once in a while.’ 

The actor provoked further controversy this month after he tweeted: ‘Every single human life is precious. The end’, in a clear nod to the Black Lives Matter protests sparked by killing of George Floyd by police officers. 

He suffered an immediate backlash online and said in his Spectator column that an actor friend phoned him and challenged him about the post, and they haven’t spoken since.   

Fox wrote: ‘On 25 May the world watched as a policeman kneeled on a man’s neck for almost nine minutes, killing him. Our jaws dropped in horror and disgust. 

‘Something needed to be done. Justice needed to be done and seen to be done. On that, all were agreed. Black lives matter — three such powerful words. Words we all could unite behind. But was it that simple? 

‘A week later, I got a text from a very well-known young actor with a screenshot of a tweet of mine which read: ‘Every single human life is precious. The end.’