Laurence Fox ‘asked drag queen for a makeover and pre-planned argument on GB News’
Aida H Dee claims Laurence Fox called her to plan a TV argument, calling her ‘love’ and babe’ during the conversation. (Credit: Getty Images)
Drag Queen Story Hour founder Aida H Dee has branded TV host Laurence Fox a “performative monkey” who seemed to not “have the conviction behind the stuff he says”, after revealing they were asked by GB News to dress him in drag live on air.
The drag performer said Fox spoke with them one-to-one on the phone in an attempt to convince them to appear, calling them “love” and “babe” during the call.
Dee claimed that the presenter wanted to pre-prepare a faux argument between the two, by planning out what he and they would say to each other on air.
They said their response was: “That’s not why I’m going on TV, to dress you up in drag and talk about drag and LGBTQ+ issues. I’m there to make you change your mind, essentially, because I know that you have some disgusting views.”
On Monday (19 June), the drag queen published a thread on Twitter explaining out how they were approached by the right-wing channel in April and initially offered £300 for a segment on a Saturday evening show.
Dee posted emails on social media, which show a GB News producer was keen to pull together a show which would see the queen makeover Fox in drag, debate drag with an anti-drag figure, discuss what’s in the news, then teach everyone some dance moves.
In the email, the producer also said Fox would have given a monologue to camera on “how we should embrace drag”.
Fox has previously appeared at anti-Drag Queen Story Hour protests and had had to pay £36,000 in legal costs to Drag Race UK’s Crystal, former Stonewall trustee Simon Blake and Coronation Street Nicola Thorp in May 2022 when he failed in a bid to get the libel action with them tried by a jury.
The trio are suing Fox over Tweets by him in October 2020 in which he called them paedophiles. He is counterclaiming over their Tweets in response calling him “racist”, a description he denies.
Dee’s tweet thread comes one day after Fox stoked further controversy by setting Pride flags on fire in his garden on Father’s Day, and subsequently shared the video on Twitter.
The Metropolitan Police told PinkNews they are “assessing” the footage, following reports made to them about the incident.
Speaking with PinkNews, Dee said they did not post the tweets just because of the flag burning incident, but noted it was the “catalyst” because they are “sick and tired” of hearing what Fox says and “having very little repercussions”.
They went on: “What I do for a job is obviously teaching people lessons, inclusivity technically. I write children’s books, then perform them as a story-telling show.
“I see myself as somebody who’s very level-headed, not hot-headed, in the eyes of having a conversation with somebody who is transphobic and I could see myself hopefully being very good at discussing and trying to [find] some sort of common ground. Maybe even turning somebody around. I would like to think I’m that person. I’ve done it before.”
The drag queen continued: “When I got Lawrence Fox saying he wants to try and do something with me I optimistically, at first, thought maybe this is an opportunity for me to change a mind.
“Maybe I can help somebody who thinks really wrong, not just bad but wrong, things, about a community of people. Maybe I can change their mind.”
Despite being optimistic about the opportunity, Dee looked at the situation “realistically” and decided to pull out.
However, the drag performer said Fox called them directly.
“He wanted to plan what we were going to talk about, which I thought ‘that’s nice, so do I’. But he wanted to plan having an argument.”
The planning for this staged row allegedly included Fox saying the pair should “go off on each other”, which is not want Dee wanted to do live on air.
“He very much thought, while was talking to me on the phone, that I was somebody who would be ready to get into an act and perform on TV for an argument, because he thought it was going to happen.”
After telling the channel they would not take part, a producer offered to pay Dee up to £400 to appear.
“Why on Earth are they wanting to pay £400 for somebody to dress [Laurence Fox] in drag to talk about drag? What they really want to do is take the mick out of drag.
“They were looking to ridicule drag and LGBTQ people and they wanted me to help with ridiculing them, that’s what it felt like.”
Dee went on to say: “Laurence Fox is a performative monkey. That’s what it comes across as, like he doesn’t even have the conviction behind the stuff he says.”
Putting a message out to the LGBTQ+ community, the drag queen said that if anyone is asked to be interviewed by, or work with, Fox to “absolutely boycott” him.
“If you don’t give him any sparks and words, there is no fire,” they said.
PinkNews has contacted Laurence Fox and GB News for comment, but neither has responded.
