The trial started Wednesday for UK political activist Laurence Fox who was sued for libel by two trans activists after calling them “paedophiles” in a spat on X in October 2020. In the heated exchange, former Deputy Chair of LGBTQ activist group Stonewall and a drag queen name Crystal repeatedly made claims that Fox was a “racist,” for which he countersued the pair.
Crystal, whose real name is Colin Seymour as BBC reports, was a contestant on Season 1 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. He was filmed back in July dancing in front of an audience of “horrified” parents and children at a family theme park called Adventure Island in Essex, where he is seen thrusting an angle grinder from his crotch while sparks pour out of it.
Laurence Fox's trial is taking place at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London
Fox, who is a well-known Britsh actor, has said that the public allegations of racism cost him his agent and acting jobs.
The dispute began when he called for a boycott of Sainsbury’s market over their declaration of support for Black History Month in which they stated “anyone who does not want to shop with an inclusive retailer is welcome to shop elsewhere.”
He responded: “'I won't be shopping in your supermarket ever again whilst you promote racial segregation and discrimination. I sincerely hope others join me. RT”
The argument between the two parties on X ensued.
Laurence Fox's girlfriend Liz Barker sat next to him during the first day of trial. Photo from a prior event.
Lorna Skinner KC who is representing Blake, Seymour and an actress Nicola Thorp who joined in on the spat, said the three "honestly believed, and continue honestly to believe, that Mr Fox is a racist.”
"If and to the extent that Mr Fox has been harmed in his reputation, it is his own conduct and not the claimants' comments on it that caused that harm,” she stated.
Patrick Green KC, the representative for Fox, said that Blake and Seymore have not “suffered any actual, real-world consequences" from the actor’s posts calling the paedophiles and that X users understood these were a "retort to an allegation of racism.”
In regards to his client, he stated: "The allegation of being 'a racist' will have been looked upon very seriously by many of Mr Fox's actual and potential colleagues... He is not a racist, he is a colour-blind liberal who dislikes racism, 'progressive' and identitarian politics."
In the opening remarks of both parties the first day of the trial, Skinner suggested that Fox "had never sought to suggest there was a basis for anyone to believe that any of the claimants were paedophiles," a sentiment that Green completely agreed with.
Green also echoed his remarks in written submissions pre-trial in his opening argument that "there were a small number of trolls and people in the twitter-sphere" who did attempt to defame Blake and Seymour. However, he said, the narrative settled more in their favor as prominent UK publications such as Daily Mail were quick to side against Fox.
Plaintiff Simon Blake is the former deputy vice chair of trans activist group, Stonewall
The court was reportedly shown a list of Fox's acting opportunities which had dwindled from 52 in 2019 to 4 in 2021 and 2022. Some of these squandered opportunities were, notably, an appearance on The Masked Singer and a role on Succession.
Cross-examination of Blake from Green also during day 1 revealed that Sainsbury's had made several donations to charities that Blake also supports. It was found that Blake formed his opinions of Fox being "racist" based on his public criticisms of Sainsbury's alone and had not actually visited the market's website to investigate the subject matter or even knew about their support of black history month before he made his claims that Fox was racist.
Plaintiff Colin Seymour is a transvestite who performs under the name 'Crystal'
Stonewall made a statement on their website regarding the trial in support of Blake:
"We’re proud to stand in solidarity with our Deputy Chair Simon Blake in his case against Laurence Fox. At Stonewall we believe that it’s important for white people to challenge racism when we see it, and be staunch allies to people of colour.
"Calling gay men ‘paedophiles’ is a homophobic slur that has a long, dark history of being used to paint us as threats to children and stop us from being treated as equal citizens. Using it to silence a gay man standing up for racial justice just demonstrates how far we have to go before we can say that we live in a society where we are all valued, and can live our lives in safety and dignity."
The trial is set to end next week with a decision coming at a later date.