ENGLISH actor Laurence Fox said black actors only talk about "how racism is rampant and rife in the industry" after they become famous.

The actor told a podcast presented by the right-wing commentator James Delingpole: "The most annoying thing is the minute a black actor – it's the same with working-class actors – the minute they've got five million quid in the bank, every interview they do is about how racism is rampant and rife in the industry.

"And with working-class actors, 'There's not enough working-class actors'. You weren't saying that when you didn't have a f****** pot to piss in were you?"

In the same podcast, he hit out at the inclusion of a Sikh soldier in Oscar-nominated film 1917, calling it “institutionally racist”, saying that seeing actor Nabhaan Rizwan in the film “diverted” him from the story.

WHO IS FOX? 

HE'S best known for playing DS James Hathaway on ITV drama Lewis.

Fox, who is the son of actor James Fox and part of the Fox acting dynasty, has also dabbled in music since 2016.

The singer-songwriter has two albums under his belt including 2019 effort A Grief Observed, which "rails against the hypocrisy of woke culture", according to The Times.

A video of Fox performing an acoustic version of his track Distance on the Jeremy Vine show resurfaced and people were less than impressed, with Twitter users branding it "appallingly bad".

One said: "Tone-deaf and still gets a record deal – yet denies he has any sort of privilege."

Another said Fox's singing is "even worse than his opinions".

WHAT WAS THE REACTION TO HIS COMMENTS?

THE RADA-trained actor, whose Twitter following has nearly tripled since his TV appearance, has said he is enjoying "winding up the wonderful wokies" – in reference to people who consider themselves aware of social and racial injustice.

Following the row, the actors union Equity appeared to call him a "disgrace to our industry" and urged its members "to unequivocally denounce [him] and his comments".

Scottish Author Irvine Welsh also attacked Fox's comments saying: "Literally ALL every working-class actor I’ve spoken to over last 30 years has said is: they’ve been frozen out by toffs doing bad w/c accents and playing cliched stereotypes. The complainers are posh actors who haven’t made it as big as they’d like in spite of their connections."

READ MORE: Irvine Welsh attacks Laurence Fox over working-class actors comment

Singer Lily Allen shared a post on her Instagram story, saying she was “sick to death of luvvies like Laurence Fox going on TV and forcing their opinions on everybody else”.

IS THIS HIS FIRST CONTROVERSY?

NO. The actor sparked outrage last week after an appearance on Question Time in which he called an academic studying race and ethnicity racist for calling him a “white, privileged male”.

When university lecturer Rachel Boyle suggested Meghan Markle had suffered racist treatment at the hands of the press, Fox replied: "It's not racism... we're the most tolerant, lovely country in Europe.

"It's so easy to throw the charge of racism and it's really starting to get boring now".

He went on to say being a "white privileged male" did not lock him out of the debate.