Laurence Fox has revealed that his ‘friend of ten years’, actress Rebecca Front, has blocked him on Twitter over his views of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The star of ITV drama Lewis said on social media today that it is was the ‘most painful cancellation I’ve had yet’ after The Thick of It star disagreed with his #AllLivesmatter posts.
The actor courted controversy in June this year month after a tweet he posted, which said: ‘Every single human life is precious! The end!’ It is a clear nod to the Black Lives Matter protests sparked by killing of George Floyd by police officers.
He also penned a piece for The Spectator saying he would continue to speak out against the ‘inconsistent god of progressivism’. Since then the 44-year-old actor has been using the #AllLivesmatter on his social media account.
The star of ITV drama Lewis said on social media today is was the ‘most painful cancellation I’ve had yet’ after The Thick of It star disagreed with his #AllLivesmatter posts
The actor posted on Twitter today showing his exchange with The Thick of It star Rebecca Front
Today, Fox shared a screenshot of a conversation with Front. In the messages, Fox said: ‘Why would you block me? Have I said anything that could upset you? What a shame. Anyway, you are never blocked from me.’
Front replied: ‘Oh Lol, I think it was the #AllLivesMatter stuff that finally tipped me over the edge It seems to me so glaringly obvious that All Lives Matter – you’d have to be a psychopath to disagree – that it should be equally obvious it doesn’t need a slogan.
‘Black Lives are systematically undervalued. Their work opportunities are fewer, their health outcomes far worse, the criminal justice system works against them. I think the least we can do is let them have a f***ing slogan.
‘But there are many, many things we clearly disagree on and, fond as I am of you, looking at your Twitter feed I just felt uncomfortable about the company you’re keeping.
The actor courted further controversy after a recent tweet he posted, which said: ‘Every single human life is precious! The end!
Fox is pictured arriving at the Good Morning Britain studios in central London in January this year
I’m sorry. I wish you and your lovely boys well. We’ll just have to agree to differ.’
Fox replied: ‘“The least we’re can do is let them have a f***ing slogan.” Jesus/ ‘It’s ok to disagree. But it’s the right thing to do to talk first before you cancel me.
Especially given how racist the phrase you just wrote is. I thought we had more in common.’
It’s not the first time the actor has courted controversy. In January this year Fox was involved in a heated debate with the academic and ethnicity lecturer Rachel Boyle after she called him ‘a white privileged male’ on BBC’s Question Time.
The 41-year-old accused Ms Boyle, an academic at Edge Hill University on Merseyside, of ‘being racist’ after she called him ‘a white privileged male’ for denying the Duchess of Sussex was hounded from Britain for being mixed-race.
As the row continued the following day he quoted Martin Luther King’s 1963 ‘I have a dream’ speech about living in a nation where children ‘will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character’.
He said: ‘This is the position I took last night and I live by in life. If you can improve on it, I’m all ears. Or you can keep screeching ”Racist!” at me and I can carry on having a jolly good giggle at your expense. The tide is turning’.
Later that month he went on to reveal that he does not date women under the age of 35 because they are ‘too woke’ and many of them are ‘absolutely bonkers’ during an interview with the Delingpod podcast.
During the podcast , Fox said that he called off a relationship with a former partner because she praised a Gillette advert which highlighted ‘toxic masculinity.’
Late in January he apologised to the Sikh community after he sparked a race row by claiming the inclusion of a turban-wearing soldier in Sam Mendes film 1917 was ‘incongruous’.
The outspoken actor made the comment about the critically-acclaimed film in a podcast on Saturday while being interviewed by James Delingpole.
Sikh historian Peter Singh Bance told MailOnline that Fox should ‘check his facts’, saying: ‘Laurence Fox is incorrect with his facts as Sikhs did fight with British forces, not just with their own regiments.’
Fox later posted on his Twitter account and apologised for the ‘clumsy way’ he expressed himself.
He said: ‘Fellow humans who are #Sikhs. I am as moved by the sacrifices your relatives made as I am by the loss of all those who die in war, whatever creed or colour.
‘Please accept my apology for being clumsy in the way I have expressed myself over this matter in recent days.’
Prior to his apology Fox said that ‘forcing diversity on people’ is ‘institutionally racist’ after saying that the inclusion of Nabhaan Rizwan portraying Sepoy Jondalar was not in keeping with the film’s surroundings.
Laurence Fox apologised to the Sikh community after his outburst about the Sam Mendes
Speaking on podcast, The Delingpod, Mr Fox said: ‘It’s very heightened awareness of the colour of someone’s skin because of the oddness in the casting. Even in 1917 they’ve done it with a Sikh soldier.
‘Which is great, it’s brilliant, but you’re suddenly aware there were Sikhs fighting in this war. And you’re like ‘ok’. You’re now diverting me away from what the story is.’
The 41-year-old actor questioned the credibility of the storyline and said the casting of Mr Rizwan caused ‘a very heightened awareness of the colour of someone’s skin’ because of ‘the oddness of the casting’.
He praised the performance of Mr Rizwan himself, saying it was ‘great’, adding that the inclusion of a Sikh soldier in the ranks ‘didn’t bother me particularly’.
But he added that the inclusion ‘did sort of flick me out of what is essentially a one-shot film [because] it’s just incongruous with the story’.
Sikh soldiers were present at some of the conflict’s bloodiest battles, including Ypres and the Somme.