fox-news

Fox News Just Unsettled Its $8 Million Hush-Money Settlement

J.K. Trotter · 05/07/14 09:50AM

Remember Brian Lewis, the former vice president of media relations for Fox News and even more former confidante of Fox News president Roger Ailes? This past November, Fox paid approximately $8 million in hush money to settle a dispute over his dramatic firing, in which the network had accused Lewis of “financial irregularities” and Lewis had countered, through his attorney, with a threat to tell “the truth” about Fox News.

Nope, Fox News Really Did Shove Shepard Smith Back Into the Closet

J.K. Trotter · 05/05/14 03:00PM

Last week, Gawker reported that, in the summer of 2013, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the events, Fox News executives had retaliated against star anchor Shepard Smith because he had voiced his desire to come out as gay. Fox News called the report “100% false and a complete fabrication,” and pointed out—directly and through cooperative reporters—what it thought were discrepancies in our account.

Adam Weinstein · 04/30/14 03:17PM

A Scientific American editor who went on Fox News and tried to discuss climate change today found the experience to be "not something that I wanted to be a part of in the future." The station also apparently tried to remove video of his appearance from its website, but thought better of it.

How Fox News Shoved Shepard Smith Back Into The Closet

J.K. Trotter · 04/30/14 09:15AM

Why hasn’t Shepard Smith come out yet? The affable Fox News anchor has a longtime boyfriend, ranks among Fox’s most senior talent, and lives in New York City. It could be, of course, that he’s just a very private person, or—as the Times argued in October—that public attitudes have changed and nobody cares if a famous figure is gay.

J.K. Trotter · 04/17/14 02:08PM

For the crime of asking him a question at a Hollywood Reporter party last night, Bill O’Reilly screamed at reporter Gabriel Sherman: “Drop dead, man!” (Previously.)

J.K. Trotter · 04/10/14 11:30AM

News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch says Fox News “absolutely saved” the Republican Party by giving “voice and hope to people who didn’t like all that liberal championing thrown at them on CNN.”

Bill O’Reilly at Catholic Fundraiser: I Want to Beat Up De Blasio

J.K. Trotter · 04/04/14 02:45PM

Bill O’Reilly wants to pummel the mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, for demonizing the wealthy. “I want to beat him up,” the Fox News anchor said of Hizzoner. (You can hear the audio above.) O’Reilly revealed his violent wish at a Thursday fundraiser for the Church of Saint Mary, a Catholic parish and K-12 school in the Long Island hamlet of Manhasset. As the Bible says: The rich will inherit the Earth.

Did Shepard Smith Leave Crimea to Come Out?

J.K. Trotter · 03/18/14 12:35PM

Last week, gay blogger Joe Jervis noticed that Fox News anchor Shepard Smith was listed as a “Special Guest” for Headlines & Headliners, an annual gala held by the National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association in New York City. The title of Jervis’s post read: “Is Fox Anchor Shep Smith Coming Out?”

Fox Station Cuts Evolution out of Neil DeGrasse Tyson's Cosmos

Jay Hathaway · 03/13/14 12:40PM

An Oklahoma City Fox station ran a teaser for its nightly newscast during the premiere of Neil DeGrasse Tyson's reboot of Cosmos. No big deal, except that it interrupted Tyson's only mention of evolution in the entire episode.