Actor in racism row defends right to speak out after death threats

LAURENCE FOX has said he has received death threats over the past week following the “unfortunate things” he has said about racism, but that he has to right to express his opinions.

The actor sparked controversy last week when he questioned whether the Duchess of Sussex had faced discrimination during an appearance on Question Time. He has since gone on to say that he thinks “woke” people are “racist”, and that the appearance of a Sikh soldier in the war movie 1917 is distracting for the audience.

Leeds-born Fox, 41, inset, told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that he has had a “small bout of, hopefully, temporary insomnia”, since Question Time, where he told an audience member that the racism argument around Meghan is “starting to get boring now”.

He told GMB: “I’ve had death threats and I have got children. I’ve had death threats, and it’s not pleasant.”

He said he believes he has been targeted because

“when you don’t have an argument your rage starts to increase, doesn’t it?”

“What I said on Question Time, I 100 per cent stand behind. I said what I felt and I continue to believe it.”

Fox said that it is “important that we seek out incidents of racism and we join together, all of us, to condemn those but what we don’t do is see colour everywhere”, adding that it is “very divisive”.

“In that incident on Question Time she (an audience member) was the one who brought up colour of skin, and I had no interest in it.” Fox said: “As you have noticed, I say quite a lot of unfortunate things.

“But I think it’s really important that one is able to express one’s opinion.”