Laurence Fox broke up with ‘too woke’ girlfriend for supporting Gillette toxic masculinity advert

Comments come after actor became embroiled in white privilege debate on Question Time

Olivia Petter
Sunday 19 January 2020 11:10 GMT
Comments
Actor Laurence Fox says treatment of Meghan Markle is not racist

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Laurence Fox has revealed he once broke up with a girlfriend for being “too woke” and said women like her are “primed” to be victims.

Speaking on “The Delingpod“ podcast, the British actor explained they broke up because of their opposing views on the 2019 Gillette advert that addressed toxic masculinity.

“I don’t know how we ended up together,” Fox said. “It was a very short relationship. We were walking down the road and she was talking about how good the Gillette advert was. I just looked at her and went, ‘Bye. Sorry, I can’t do this with you.’”

Fox added that he and his ex also argued because she was a vocal supporter of Christine Blasey Ford, who in 2018 accused the then-US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her in high school in 1982. Kavanaugh denied the allegations.​

The actor recalled being told at the time to “believe the victim”.

“No, you don’t believe the victim,” he said. “That’s not how it works. You listen to the victim. The victim’s evidence is examined and a jury of their peers makes that decision.”

Elsewhere in the podcast, Fox offered his thoughts on the #MeToo movement.

“We want less sexual harassment,” he said before addressing the “small minority of horrible men who want to dominate women”.

“But don’t make an enemy of men,” he said. “None of the real beautiful wonderful women out there really give a s*** about the length that [#MeToo] has gone to, and they are slightly ashamed of how far ... you know the ones that I respect. It’s just gone too far.”

Fox added: “Not all men are racists. I’ve got a lot of male friends and none of them have been jailed for rape or been accused of sexual harassment.”

The actor’s comments come days after he came under fire for accusing a woman of racism for calling him a “white privileged male” on Question Time. Fox also described the race row surrounding the Duchess of Sussex as “boring”.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in