GB News suspends another presenter over Laurence Fox Dan Wootton row
Robinson hosts a religious current affairs programme on the channel
Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
GB News presenter Calvin Robinson has said the broadcaster has suspended him after he shared his support for Dan Wootton online.
Robinson, who hosts a religious current affairs programme on the channel, said in a social media post on Friday that he would not appear on Dan Wootton Tonight without the suspended presenter, claiming “if he falls, we all fall”.
Wootton and actor-turned-politician Laurence Fox had earlier been suspended from the channel after Fox made a series of remarks about political correspondent Ava Evans, which included asking “who would want to shag that?” during Wootton’s show on Tuesday.
On Friday morning, GB News boss Angelos Frangopoulos apologised to Ms Evans for the comments, saying they “should not have gone to air” and should have been “properly challenged” by Wootton.
Fox and Wootton have since apologised and GB News is undertaking an internal investigation, while regulator Ofcom has launched a probe after receiving around 7,300 complaints over the episode.
Addressing the situation on X, formerly known as Twitter, Robinson wrote: “I will not be appearing on Dan Wootton Tonight without Dan Wootton. Dan Wootton had a significant part to play in building GB News.
“He invited me along pre-launch, he also brought so many people onboard. Behind the cameras as well as on-screen talent.
“Including the careerist ambitious ones who are currently gunning for his job. These people are worse than the woke mob, because these vultures are giving the mob ammunition and essentially escalating the channel’s demise.”
He added that GB News will be on “borrowed time” if it does not stand by Wootton.
“I get that people have to pay the bills. But GB News is more than a job – it’s certainly more than a chance to be on the telly – it is a mission,” he continued.
“An opportunity to shift the dial in public discourse. To have the conversations the shills on other channels cannot or will not have. We must do all we can to avoid GB News becoming just another MSM outlet. Which it will, if we let it.”
He claimed that the bosses of GB News are “afraid” and that if someone takes Wootton’s slot it will not to be a promotion, but “making space alongside his corpse for your own”.
Robinson added: “Standing up for Dan is standing up for the very idea of GB News. If he falls, we all fall.
“We are about to see if people really care about the project, or they just want a better slot, with a bigger team and better pay.”
Later on Friday, he announced he too had been taken off-air, tweeting: “I have been suspended from GB News.”
MailOnline announced on Thursday that it had terminated its contract with Wootton, who was a columnist for the site.
Wootton has apologised to Ms Evans, suggesting he should have intervened during the broadcast, while Fox said he was “sorry for demeaning” the journalist.
GB News has been contacted for comment.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.