Some call them “Donald Trump’s Favorite TV network” One thing that FOX News has been unable to erase from its history as one of the world’s leading Television Networks is the amount of controversy the network has managed to elicit both externally and internally. And here is a list of controversies that has happened at the network resulting in the sack of some of its employees.
1. Bill O’Reilly
This was probably one of the biggest scandals to happen to one of America’s most celebrated broadcasters of all time.
Before joining Fox, Bill had previously worked for CBS News and ABC news. In 1996 he joined Fox news and started his own show titled the O’ Reilly Factor. His show was the highest rated show for 16 years straight. A report by the New York Times brought into light series of lawsuit and settlement against Billy and the Fox from five women totaling 13 million dollars. Once the news broke out numerous sponsors pulled out from their advertisements arrangements for the show. O’Reilly soon announced he would be taking a previously scheduled vacation and will be returning later.
Fox soon announced he would not be returning to the show again. Billy owns a blog where he still comments on the political situations of the country.
2. Eric Bolling
Another popular face that got embroiled in controversy leading to his dismissal at FOX news was Eric Bolling. Bolling was previously a presenter on CNBC, Eric took up a job in Fox Business Network as a financial analyst, hosting the business show Happy Hour. In 2013, he took over as host for the program.
When The Five was created he moved as co-host for the show, soon moving again to be the co-host for Fox News Specialists. In 2017, a report by HuffPost shows Eric sending unsolicited nude pictures and text messages to three women which he denied. An investigation was launched by Fox, which led to the announcement of the mutual agreement of termination of the contract.
3. Bob Beckel
A co-host of a TV show on Fox News called “The Five”. Beckel was soon released by the station after long months of absenteeism due to complications from back surgery and his addiction to pain killers. After a short stint with CNN, he was hired back into his old job but was soon fired again due to a racist remark he made to an African American employee that had come to offer technical assistance after he had issues with his computer. Initially, the News Network denied the allegation but after a lot of pressure, the Network fired Beckel.
4. Gretchen Carlson
Joined Fox news in 2005, Carlson acting as an anchor for the show Fox & Friends. She held the position for 11 years which became a favorite, for now, United States President Donald Trump. In 2016 Carlson announced she had left her position at Fox. Carlson alleged that her contract wasn’t renewed due to her turning down sexual advances of the network’s chairman, Roger Ailes. She filed a lawsuit against him immediately. After Carlson’s lawsuit more women came out also alleging that Ailes had harassed them and making the chairman to tender his resignation. Carlson was settled by the network with 20 million dollars.
5. Andrea Tantaros
Andrea joined Fox in 2010, and after just one year with the network, she became a co-host on “The Five” and was soon moved to another show named ”Outnumbered”. In 2016 Andrea was sacked by the network which she claimed was due to her reporting about sexual harassment by Network Chief, Roger Ailes. In an interview with New York Magazine, she claimed she was demoted and taken off air after complaining numerous times about Ailes. Fox, however, claimed otherwise insisting she was taken off air only because she violated company policy of not allowing the company to vet her book before its publication.
6. Rudi Bakhtiar
Having spent nine years in the CNN, Rudi joined Fox in 2006 as an established reporter. Rudi covered major international news stories for the FOX News Network with some of the prominent stories such as the Ahmadinejad-al-Maliki summit in Tehran and the case and trial of Iraqi former leader, Sadam Hussein. But she was fired after spending only a year with the News Network. Rudi complained of sexual harassment by her co-worker Brian Wilson.
She also claimed that after she refuted Wilsons advances, she was reassigned, and after complaining also about being punished for refuting Wilsons advances, she was fired from the network. Fox denied any allegations of sexual harassment with the vice president John Muddy claiming she was just a bad reporter. The case went into confidential mediation where the ruling was in her favor, with Fox agreeing to pay her the remaining wages on her contract and also cover her legal fees.
7. John Huddy
Known for reporting from Jerusalem, Huddy was fired by Fox in 2017 after investigating him for a physical altercation. Huddy soon claimed in an interview that no such altercation, only finding the reason for his dismissal in the news. He claimed he was fired due to accusations by his sister over her sexual harassment allegations by Billy O’Reilly.
8. Dick Morris
After a lengthy career in politics which includes serving as a political adviser to the white house and serving as campaign manager for Bill Clinton in the 1996 elections, Dick Morris decided to switch professions becoming a political commentator and analyst. He was then hired by Fox News, making appearances in the O’Reilly show. In 2012, Morris confidently predicted Mitt Romney will win the elections with a landslide victory against Obama, a prediction which was against a major consensus from experts that Obama will win both at electoral college and likely the popular vote. Months after the election, Fox decided not to renew his contract as his predictions were way of the mark.
9. Stacey Dash
Dash is known for her role in Dionne Marie Davenport in the series “Clueless.” She voted for Barrack Obama in the 2008 elections but soon changed parties and started identifying as a Republican. She supported Mitt Romney in the 2012 elections and soon became more vocal about her political opinions. In 2014, she was hired by Fox as a contributor. During her stint with Fox, she was involved in so many controversial comments on live TV like “Obama doesn’t give an s**t about terrorism”, which got her suspended for two weeks, later on during the Oscars so White Movement, she insisted on the Black history month being abolished. After this incidences, the network refused to renew her contract.
10. Marc Lamont Hill
A professor in the Morehouse college, he joined Fox News in 2007 and he appeared often on the O’Reilly Show where he discussed with O’Reilly on socio-political issues. Hill had a reputation for defending controversial figures and was fired by Fox. In 2010, Rupert Murdoch announced Hill was no longer within the organization’s employ when a reporter asked Rupert Murdoch about Hill.
11. Michelle Fields
Michelle fields became a contributor for Fox News in 2014, making in appearances in shows like Fox & Friends, Hannity, The O’Reilly Factor, and Cashin’ In In 2016, she accused Corey Lewandowski who is Donald’s Trump Campaign Manager, of aggressively grabbing her while she asked him questions. She then filed a police report against Lewandowski on the allegation of simple battery.
Michelle quit her job at Breitbart citing their non-support of over the incident. Soon after, Fox announced she wouldn’t be appearing on Cashin’In for a short while. She never appeared on the show again with Fox claiming a mutual termination.
12. Bo Dietl
A former New York police detective, Bo joined Fox News as a contributor in 2010, it was rumored that the only reason why Dietl was hired was to help Ailes discredit the sexual harassment charges against him and also wage war against his enemies within the Network and externally. Dietl was let go by Fox in 2016 after getting into a clash with fellow contributor Jehmu Greene although the reason for altercation was never disclosed and it was reported that he was in a “tight spot” after Ailes was removed from the Network’s employ.
13. Eric Burns
Eric Burns hosted Fox News Watch for more than a decade (1997-2008), a debate show which focuses on media bias, with different panelists debating if the media portrayed stories well enough. Burns was not dismissed due to any allegations but was taking off because the studio wanted to change the scope from the traditional news outlets to more articles from the internet.
14. George Will
Regarded by some as the most powerful journalist in America, Will writes regularly for the Washington post and was employed by Fox in 2013 as a contributor where he regularly provided political input. Wills contract was not renewed due to a feud with O’Reilly about leaving the Republican party.
15. Ed Henry
Known as a master of the art of broadcasting. Soon after leaving CNN, Henry joined Fox as the Chief White House Correspondent saying Fox news had been poorly criticized. After the revelation of his 10-month extramarital affair with a Las Vegas Hostess and stripper, Henry took a break from media and it was during this period that he was removed from his position as FOX News White House Correspondent and in late August 2016 he came back and was given the position of Chief National Correspondent; a position which was quite lower than his previous position.
16. Paula Zahn
While at Fox, she was the host of the show “The Edge with Paula Zahn” Paula was fired by Fox news as soon as it was discovered that she was negotiating with CNN, a move that was considered a breach of the contract agreed with FNC (Fox News Channel). Hours after her dismissal, she got another offer from CNN.
17. Jane Akre
Known for her whistleblower lawsuit against WTVT, which is a Fox News Network affiliate station. Akre and her husband Wilson worked on a story involving Agricultural and biotechnology company Monsanto about the use of a milk additive approved by the Food and Drug Administration but was responsible for a series of health issues. The company, Monsanto wrote to the President of Fox News Roger Ailes to review the report for bias as the report could cause a lot of damage.
WVTV didn’t run the article and stated that the report wasn’t “breakthrough journalism” despite Akre and her former husband rewriting the report over 80 times.
WVTV went ahead to terminate their appointment for no reason and went ahead to publish a report about the “Monsanto and rBGH” with the report containing defenses from Monsanto.
The couples filed a lawsuit against FOX News, citing an attempt to suppress and distort the damaging evidence against Monsanto. They lost the trial and never got their job back.
18. Kate Dalley
Kate Dalley was fired from her job completely unannounced. Many see Kate’s dismissal was caused by her outspoken opinions.
19. Judy Slater
Fox News has dismissed comptroller Judy Slater after the network’s concluded internal investigation over racist comments she made to Slater was accused of making offensive comments to African-Americans and ridiculing the way they talked. The allegations which were brought to the attention of management, who then launched an investigation into her behavior. “We take any complaint of this nature very seriously and took the appropriate action in investigating and firing Ms. Slater within two weeks of this being brought to our attention,” said a Fox News representative. “There is no place for abhorrent behavior like this at Fox News.”
20. Jessica Golloher
Jessica served as a reporter for Fox radio until 2017, where she was informed the network wouldn’t be renewing her contract due to budget cuts. Jessica alleges that this dismissal came 24 hours after she asked to speak to the networks independent investigator. She then sued fox for discrimination and retaliation.