The rapid implosion of Faux New continues. On Friday, the Republican mouthpiece failing network abruptly fired Bob Beckel, a co-host of the prime-time talk show “The Five,” after an African-American employee accused him of making a racially insensitive remark. I know, contain your shock.
The NY Times article describes Beckel as one of the channel’s “few left-leaning commentators.” But I must admit I’ve never heard of him, perhaps because I never watch the crapfest channel, so I have no idea how left-leaning Beckel actually is. But I suspect that it doesn’t take much to be considered “left-leaning” at Fox, and if Beckel is “left-leaning” the same way that Faux News host Juan Williams is supposed to be “left-leaning.” then that means he’s not “left-leaning” in the way that any of us would describe it. (And Beckel is apparently known for his “signature suspenders,” so...c’mon.)
Anyhoo, here’s what led to Beckel’s firing:
Mr. Beckel was accused of walking out of his office this week after an African-American network employee arrived to service his computer. Mr. Beckel said that he was leaving because the employee was black, according to the employee’s lawyer, Douglas H. Wigdor.
But this was the sweetest part of the article to read:
And after years as the undisputed king of cable news, Fox News ranked third in prime-time this week among the 25-54 age group most important to advertisers, finishing behind its rivals MSNBC and CNN. In total audience, MSNBC edged out Fox News in prime-time on three nights, an unsettling sign for an evening schedule scrambled by last month’s exit of Bill O’Reilly.
As ursalafaw reported on Thursday, the Rachel Maddow Show has skyrocketed to the top of the cable news ratings, and in doing so she obliterated FNC’s The Five that runs against her. Faux News moved The Five to prime-time following O’Lieley’s departure. On May 17, Rachel had 763,000 viewers in the key 25-54 demo (and 2.875 million overall), compared to The Five’s 521,000 viewers (and 2.434 million overall).
It’s completely not surprising to me that a TV network that toes the Republican Party line and has fully embraced Donald Trump is a cesspool of sexism and racism. The only question now is how low Faux News will go. I predict things will get much, much worse for the channel before they get better, same as for the Great Orange Thing in the White House that the channel continues to prop up.