Lawrence Fox’s defamation suit over allegations of racism will be retried | Lawrence Fox

The Court of Appeal has ruled that Lawrence Fox’s defamation suit should be retried after he was called a racist on social media.

The former actor was successfully sued by Simon Blake, who is now CEO of Stonewall, and drag artist Crystal, over a spat on the social media platform Twitter, now called X.

Fox, 47, described Blake and the former RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant, whose real name is Colin Seymour, as “pedophiles” in an exchange over Sainsbury’s resolution to mark Black History Month in October 2020.

Fox called for a boycott of the supermarket and was branded a “racist” by the men and presenter Nicola Thorpe, before responding with the “pedophilia” tweets that led to the initial libel claims.

In two rulings in 2024, Lady Justice Collins Rice ruled in favor of Blake and Seymour, and said Fox must pay them £90,000 in damages.

The judge dismissed Fox’s counterclaims against them and Thorpe for defamation over tweets accusing him of racism.

Fox appealed this decision to the Court of Appeal in London, where his lawyers described the previous judge’s decision as “clearly wrong.”

In a decision handed down on Friday, Lord Justice Dingmans, Lady Justice Elizabeth Laing and Lord Justice Warby ruled in favor of Fox on his counterclaims and level of damages.

Warby said the tweets calling Fox a racist had caused serious damage to his reputation and his defamation claim should be reconsidered at a retrial.

He also reduced the amount of compensation Fox was ordered to pay to Blake and Seymour to £45,000, with Dingmans describing the previous sums as “manifestly excessive”.

Appeals court judges rejected Fox’s bid to overturn the finding that he had defamed Blake and Seymour.

After the decision, Fox complained about the “cancellation,” adding: “We don’t want to live in a country where conversations and careers are destroyed and shut down because of these horrific slurs.”

In a video posted on X, he said: “I hope now, actually I know now, that people will think twice before making this terrible claim again.

“I was completely eliminated from the job I loved, still love and hope to do again, overnight, so I am extremely grateful for this outcome and hope it plays a role in putting freedom of expression back exactly where it belongs, at the cornerstone of any free society.”