Laurence Fox called me a paedophile – I couldn’t let him get away with that

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Three years ago, during a row with the actor and political activist Laurence Fox on social media over a supermarket chain’s support for Black History Month, he called me a paedophile for no reason whatsoever. Calling someone a paedophile, or groomers, or nonces, is often the first line of attack, a new way of framing very old homophobia – and it’s all bound up in a modern “trans panic”. One of the interesting things that came up in court was an email he sent, saying : “I’m getting a huge wad of cash for this game, and I suppose it’s better to be hated and rich than hated and fired from a job in a supermarket.” Who can say how much of what he says he actually believes, and what is said just to agitate and rile up his base? And so she said: “Well, let’s try and agree on this: if someone said, ‘I hate black people’, would that always be racist?” And he said: “Well, it’s so difficult because you’re being subjective.