Drag Race’s Crystal jokes that Laurence Fox ‘loves supporting drag’ after libel payout
Crystal has joked that Laurence Fox actually ‘loves drag’ amid court case with Nicky Doll (Getty)
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK star Crystal has joked that right-wing activist and former actor Laurence Fox “loves supporting drag” after he was ordered to shell out £180,000 in a libel case.
Fox was sued by Crystal, whose name out of drag is Colin Seymour, and former Stonewall trustee Simon Blake, after an exchange on X (then Twitter) in 2020.
The Reclaim Party founder called both of them a “paedophile”, then attempted to countersue the pair (and Coronation Street‘s Nicola Thorp) after they called him a “racist” for objecting to supermarket chain Sainsbury’s Black History Month celebrations.
Crystal, Blake and Thorp won the case, and, in April, Fox was ordered to pay £90,000 to Blake and the Drag Race UK star.
Fox is now involved in a separate libel case, this time with Drag Race France host Nicky Doll, after he called her and a troupe of fellow drag artists “deviant little pedos”, after their appearance at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics last month.
Nicky followed through on her threat to sue Fox for defamation. If the former Lewis star loses again, he might have to give out more money to drag artists. It’s for that reason that Crystal has joked that he is an undercover drag lover, and this is his roundabout way of financially supporting the queens.
Replying to a post on X which read: “At this point Laurence Fox is gonna be giving out the prize money to the Drag Race UK girlies,” Crystal wrote: “He’s a modern-day patron of the arts. He actually loves supporting drag.”
Drag Race UK famously does not give out prize money in quite the same way as the flagship of the franchise.
Tia Kofi snatched the British spin-off’s first cash prize in season two of UK vs. The World , with previous winners The Vivienne, Lawrence Chaney, Krystal Versace, Danny Beard, Ginger Johnson and Blu Hydrangea all receiving a lovely pat on the back instead.
Fans, of course, have reacted to Crystal’s joke.
“I hear Laurence was inspired by the charitable act of All Stars 9 that they just wanted to give it all away,” one wrote, referring to the latest spin-off’s charity twist.
Another joked: “How fabulous [Laurence], thank you for funding some of my favourite drag queens, money well spent,” while Crystal’s season-one sister Sum Ting Wong added: “Loves spending all his money on drag, lol.”
Nicky confirmed her plans to sue, posting on X: “I will never again allow myself and other queer people to be defamed and demonised. If responding with love doesn’t work for some, then responding with justice should work. See you in court.” She included a lengthy letter from lawyer Anne Sophie-Laguens.
“Following the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on 26 July, the artists who performed on the Debilly footbridge suffered an unprecedented wave of hatred and faced the trivialisation of insults due to their sexual orientation or gender identity,” the letter alleged.
“The lawyers of Stop Homophobie have received numerous reports of incitement to hatred, insults, online harassment, threats and defamation. The firm was notified by Mr Karl Sanchez, known as Nicky Doll, of a defamation complaint filed against Mr Laurence Fox and other users of the social network X (Twitter).”
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