Laurence Fox has been branded a “disgrace” by members of the actors' union for his controversial analysis on the Duchess of Sussex during a heated row on BBC Question Time.
The 41-year-old actor suffered a barrage of criticism after saying that the treatment of Meghan Markle was not racist, with the Lewis star being dubbed a "white privileged male"
Equity’s minority ethnic members committee described his words on the programme as “disgraceful playing to the gallery” and labelled him a “disgrace to our industry”.
Responding to a claim from an audience member that the media’s treatment of Meghan amounted to “racism”, Mr Fox responded: “It’s not racism… we’re the most tolerant, lovely country in Europe.
READ MORE: Lily Allen and Laurence Fox in online spat over BBC Question Time appearance
“It’s so easy to throw the charge of racism and it’s really starting to get boring now,” he continued.
The audience member then described Fox as a “white, privileged male”, to which he responded: “I can’t help what I am, I was born like this, it was an immutable characteristic.
“To call me a white privileged male is to be racist,” he claimed.
Dear trolls
— LAURENCE FOX (@LozzaFox) January 17, 2020
Water off a ducks back.
Happy Friday everyone.
🦆😘
Footage of the exchange was heavily shared online, with many social media users criticising Fox for his position.
However, the British actor, who was married to Billie Piper until 2016, tweeted the following morning describing his Twitter feed as “Christmas come early”.
“Speak truth to nonsense,” the 41-year-old added.
“Let’s be really clear about what this is, let’s call it by its name, it’s racism.”
— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) January 16, 2020
“We’re the most tolerant lovely country in Europe, it’s not racism”
This audience member clashes with actor @LozzaFox over the treatment of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/ZwANAlCBbA
Further discussing Meghan and Harry’s decision to quit as senior royals, he told host Fiona Bruce: “When you’re younger you do want to make a life for yourselves.
READ MORE: Actor Laurence Fox says sorry for swearing at heckler during play: 'I was very upset about it'
“So I do empathise with them, but I do think there’s a little bit of having your cake and eating it which I don’t enjoy.”
Fox also attracted attention on the BBC programme for comments about climate change.
Joking about the hypocrisy of celebrities who fly regularly, Fox said: “The carbon footprint’s huge.
“But we make up for it by preaching to everyone how they should change their life.”
Responding to the exchange, the minority ethnic committee Equity said it was “extremely disturbed” that Fox had been given a platform to “berate and bully women of colour attempting to discuss issues of race and gender discrimination”.
It went on to describe Fox as a “disgrace to our industry” but added that he had appeared to “damn any recognition of that privilege as the very racism he claims is exaggerated when people of colour try to discuss it”.
READ MORE: Laurence Fox and five other actors who couldn't contain their fury at on-stage disruption
The committee used its Twitter account to claim he was guilty of “a disgraceful playing to the gallery, a populist tirade, with women of colour being used as cannon fodder”.
In tweets that have since been removed, it added: “We call on all Equity members to unequivocally denounce Laurence Fox and his comments.
In response, Equity said: “These tweets were sent out by two committee members without consultation with the committee as a whole or Equity staff. Equity has asked for the tweets to be taken down while a more considered response to the issue is discussed.”
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