Global Courant 2023-05-06 07:32:21
Former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany visits “Hannity” with host Sean Hannity on Fox News Channel Studios on March 15. (Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)
If you thought Fox News would take a new direction in prime time after the ouster of conservative provocateur Tucker Carlson, the choice of fill-in host in next week’s hour suggests otherwise.
Kayleigh McEnany, who served as press secretary in the Trump administration for 10 months, is getting a week-long trial starting Monday on the high-profile 8 p.m. Eastern Hour.
The network is looking for a replacement for Carlson, who was fired on April 24 amid revelations that he made racial slurs, promoted a conspiracy about the January 6, 2021 riot, and sent critical texts about Fox News correspondents checking the network’s baseless claims of vote-rigging, even though he himself didn’t believe them.
But there are no signs of Fox News giving up provocative and incendiary views within an hour. McEnany gets off to a head start in creating controversy when she made a racially offensive crack Friday on “Outnumbered,” the Fox News daytime show where she’s a co-host.
McEnany introduced a discussion of a protest in New York City over the May 1 killing of a black homeless man by a Navy veteran on a subway. Jordan Neely, 30, who had a history of mental illness and multiple arrests for assault, reportedly ranted and terrorized passengers before the veteran put him in a chokehold that police have determined caused his death.
After coming out of a video that showed a mixed-race drumming audience singing about Neely’s death, McEnany said, “Justice or burn it down – well, at least they’ve got rhythm,” invoking a stereotype about black people.
Through a Fox News representative, McEnany said she did not know the racial makeup of the protesters. She said that through the segment she heard singing in her ear and did not see the video.
But her comment was not lost on critics who saw it on Twitter. Many said it showed how McEnany is ready to give in to the MAGA element in Carlson’s audience, which has fled in droves since the host was ousted.
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“OMG! #KayLie doesn’t even try to hide her bigotry. Come on #FauxNews! Can’t you hire someone better?” Erin Snider, a retired teacher, wrote on Twitter.
Fox News has lost more than 50% of its more than 3 million viewers which Carlson was watching in the hour, and has seen drops during prime time in the wake of his firing.
According to Nielsen, the network is still the most watched cable news channel, outperforming MSNBC and CNN.
McEnany, the third on-air talent to get a tryout during Carlson’s tenure, was hired by Fox News in March 2021.
During her tenure in the White House, McEnany had a reputation for perpetuating Trump’s untruths from the lectern of the White House briefing room.
Fox News even cut her off during a November 9, 2020 press conference, when she repeated Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud in the election he lost to Joe Biden.
Broadcasting such claims costs Fox News mighty, as it paid a record $787.5 million to Dominion Voting Systemswho sued the network controlled by Rupert Murdoch for libel.
Carlson came under fire during his Fox News run for racist and extremist remarks he made on-air. He once described white supremacy as a “hoax” and complained that immigrants across the southern frontier are making America “poorer and dirtier and more divided.”
He was particularly critical of the Black Lives Matter movement following the 2020 police killing of George Floyd. Casting doubt on the circumstances of Floyd’s murder, he said Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer convicted of taking his life , was the victim of a “lynching”. by the media.
A leak of redacted texts and testimony collected as evidence for the Dominion Voting Systems case against Fox News revealed that he expressed similar views off-camera.
Tucker described his excitement, followed by ambivalence, as he watched a video of Trump supporters beating up a member of the leftist group Antifa. He noted, “It’s not how white men fight,” the That reported the New York Times.
Dan Webb, an attorney representing Fox News, sent a formal letter to Claire Locke, one of the firms representing Dominion, requesting that they investigate the source of the Carlson-related leaks that appeared in the press.
Dominion issued a statement saying the company had nothing to do with the revelations.
“No one associated with Dominion has shared this confidential material with the press,” a representative said.
Fox News lawyers are also trying to close leaks from liberal watchdog Media Matters, which posted a video of Carlson on set putting on his makeup.
Carlson can be seen in a video asking the female makeup artist if “pillow fights ever break out” in the women’s room. In another clip, he jokes about sex before continuing with British presenter Piers Morgan. A third clip shows him complaining about the Dominion lawyer who questioned him in court.
Fox News sent a cease and desist order to Media Matters on Friday, saying the organization is misusing its intellectual property by showcasing the videos, which did not appear on the network’s airwaves.
A Media Matters representative said that “reporting newsworthy leaked material is a cornerstone of journalism.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
