Chaos at GB News grows as presenter Calvin Robinson mutinies
Calvin Robinson has been suspended from GB News after tweeting he would refuse to appear on air following the Laurence Fox row.
Fox was suspended from the channel after he made a series of remarks on the programme about political correspondent Ava Evans, which included asking ‘who would want to s**g that?’ on Tuesday.
On Friday morning, GB News boss Angelos Frangopoulos apologised to Ms Evans for the comments stating they ‘should not have gone to air’ and should have been ‘properly challenged’.
Fox has 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.
Rev Robinson hit out at GB News on X, formerly known at Twitter, saying the channel should be a ‘chance to have conversations’ you can’t have on other channels.
But a few hours later he posted a tweet saying he had been suspended.
Calvin Robinson – seen in London on March 10 – today announced he had been suspended from GB News
The political pundit announced the news to his followers on X, formerly known as Twitter
Addressing the situation on X, formerly known as Twitter, Rev Robinson wrote: ‘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.
‘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’.
Rev Robinson added: ‘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.’
Dan Wootton has also since apologised to Ms Evans, suggesting he should have intervened during the broadcast, while Fox said he was ‘sorry for demeaning’ the journalist.
BBC presenter Amol Rajan clashed with Mr Frangopoulos during a tense BBC interview today.
Opening the interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning, kingslot96 Mr Rajan asked whether Fox had been fired from GB News or just suspended.
The executive replied: ‘We have due process to follow so Laurence Fox has been suspended, there’s an investigation underway and we expect that to be completed very quickly.’
Mr Rajan asked: ‘Why do you need to investigate it? It doesn’t take very long to work out what happened.’
Mr Frangopoulos said he was ‘appalled’ by Fox’s rant but needed to follow ‘due process’ and ’employment law’.
Mr Rajan then began quizzing him about GB News’ response to the scandal on Tuesday night.
He said: ‘Ava Evans sent her tweet [about Fox’s comments] at around 10.09pm. That was around 25 minutes after the words were first uttered by Mr Fox.
‘In the intervening period, did anyone from the production team, the gallery or senior executives raise any concerns with you?’
Mr Frangopoulos replied: ‘That is the subject of our investigation at the moment.’