Fox News contributors Jonah Goldberg and Stephen Hayes have opted to leave the network in protest of Tucker Carlson’s special “Patriot Purge”Concerns about the Jan. 6, riot at Capitol. “lead to violence,” according to a report in Sunday’s New York Times.
The Times reports that Goldberg had sent Hayes a series of texts following the release of the Fox Nation trailer on Oct. 27. Goldberg told Hayes. “I’m tempted just to quit Fox over this.”Hayes also agreed and replied. “I’m game. Totally outrageous. It will lead to violence. Not sure how we can stay.”
It is described as a documentary in three parts about the Jan. 6 Capitol Riot. “Patriot Purge” is filled with conspiracy theories and an assortment of lies about the events of the day – including one that the riot was actually a “false flag”Operation designed to make conservatives look bad. It appeared on Fox’s online subscription streaming service shortly after the trailer was released, and, last week, both men turned in their resignations.
The Anti-Defamation League took note of the special’s content and called on Fox News to cancel it.
“Let’s call this what it is: an abject, indisputable lie, and a blatant attempt to rewrite history,”Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL CEO, and National Director, stated this in a letter addressed by Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murphy and made public Thursday evening. Greenblatt expressed concern about the allegations. “false narrative and wild conspiracy theories”This presentation was made in “Patriot Purge”Could “sow further division”And possibly “animate violence.”
A Fox News spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Fox’s on-air personalities are not immune to conspiracy theories. Many of these are discredited by Trump. But the reality is that the network’s viewers are, in large part, Trump loyalists. A large portion of the audience would be alienated if they decried conspiracy theories and alienated Trump.
However, Rupert Murdoch, Fox Corporation chairman, stated last week at the annual News Corp investor meeting, that Trump was preventing him from advancing his conservative political agenda.
“It is crucial that conservatives play an active, forceful role in that debate, but that will not happen if President Trump stays focused on the past. The past is the past, and the country is now in a contest to define the future,”Murdoch stated in remarks that These were not made publicly at the time.However, multiple outlets have reported the news.
According to Goldberg, he and Hayes were at Fox because they heard that the network would try to take over. “recover its independence and, as he put it, ‘right the ship.’” But, instead, Goldberg said that Carlson’s “Patriot Purge”Was “a sign that people have made peace with this direction of things, and there is no plan, at least, that anyone made me aware of for a course correction.”