Laurence Fox comments about Ava Evans top Ofcom complaints list for 2023
The Dan Wootton Tonight episode in which Laurence Fox made derogatory remarks about journalist Ava Evans was the most complained-about TV event of the year, Ofcom has revealed.
The episode, which was broadcast on GB News on 26 September, received 8,867 complaints, with viewers objecting to the actor turned politician’s misogynistic comments about the political correspondent and her appearance.
Fox and Wootton, who both later apologised, were suspended by the channel after the broadcast and Fox has since been sacked amid an ongoing Ofcom investigation into the episode continues.
The incident narrowly beat Bridgerton star Adjoa Andoh’s comments made during ITV’s coverage of King Charles’s coronation to the top spot of the media watchdog’s annual list, which prompted 8,421 complaints.
The majority related to her remarks about the appearance of the royal family on the Buckingham Palace balcony, when she said: “There is a bit of me that has gone from the rich diversity of the Abbey to the terribly white balcony. I’m very struck by that.”
Andoh, who plays Lady Agatha Danbury in the Netflix show, later apologised and clarified what she meant on BBC Radio 4. After assessing the comments, Ofcom said it would not be taking further action.
An episode of ITV’s Good Morning Britain in which presenter Richard Madeley questioned the Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran about her family in Gaza City was in third place in the list, with 2,391 complaints. During the 17 October episode, Madeley asked Moran if “there was any word on the street” before Hamas launched its attack on Israel.
A spokesperson later said Madeley was “sorry that he upset viewers” and Moran accepted the apology as she thought the line of questioning came from a “place of … ignorance” rather than malice.
In fourth place was an episode of Channel 5’s Jeremy Vine on 13 March, with 2,302 complaints, mostly relating to a discussion about the junior doctors’ pay dispute. Sky News’ Breakfast with Kay Burley took fifth place for a 23 Novemberepisode that received 1,880 complaints after Israeli spokesperson Eylon Levy was interviewed on the show.
The figures do not include complaints about the BBC, which are handled by the corporation in the first instance.
Over the year, Ofcom received 69,236 complaints about more than 9,638 cases, a large increase from 2022’s total of 36,543 complaints. The watchdog also launched 57 broadcast standards investigations, finding in 35 of these cases that its rules had been broken.
In 2021, Ofcom received more than 150,000 complaints, driven in part by Piers Morgan’s comments about the Duchess of Sussex on Good Morning Britain.
Ofcom’s most complained-about programmes of 2023
1. Laurence Fox’s remarks about Ava Evans on GB News’ Dan Wootton Tonight (8,867 complaints)
2. Adjoa Andoh’s comments about the royal family on the balcony at Buckingham Palace during ITV’s coverage of the King’s coronation (8,421)
3. Presenter Richard Madeley questioning MP Layla Moran about her family in Gaza City on ITV’s Good Morning Britain (2,391)
4. A discussion on the junior doctors’ pay dispute on Channel 5’s Jeremy Vine show (2,302)
5. Questioning of Israeli spokesperson Eylon Levy on Sky News’ Breakfast with Kay Burley (1,880)
6. Lee Anderson’s GB News interview with Suella Braverman, relating to them both being Conservative MPs (1,697)
7. Kay Burley allegedly misrepresenting comments made by the Palestinian ambassador on her Sky News show (1,640)
8. Concerns about Channel 4’s Naked Education, including pre-watershed nudity (1,285)
9. Comments made by Vanessa Feltz about coeliac disease on ITV’s This Morning (1,092)
10. Alleged bullying of Scott van-der-Sluis on ITV’s Love Island (992)