It has been speculated in recent months that Fox News will make a decision as to what its next move will be following the $787.5 million payment to Dominion in order to end their legal dispute. In some of the speculation, which is unconfirmed, it has been suggested that two popular hosts could be facing the axe, according to Radar Online.
Founder of Puck News Dylan Byers predicts Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro to be booted from the news network. There have been reports that Sean Hannity himself might receive some sort of warning or notice, although there’s not substantial evidence to back this opinion up.
Depending on the circumstances, they may not be fired, however they may receive a stern warning about their future statements.
“So I anticipate one of two things will happen here, or has perhaps already happened: The first possibility is that Fox News C.E.O. Suzanne Scott sits down with Bartiromo and Pirro and anyone else who came up to the line of libel and says, be careful,” he said.
“Alternatively, Rupert and Suzanne have already decided to elegantly and eventually show Bartiromo and/or Pirro the door,” he said.
According to his statement, Murdoch claimed that certain hosts on Fox News were making false statements about the 2020 election, not Fox News itself.
“Not Fox, no. Not Fox. But maybe Lou Dobbs, maybe [Bartiromo] as commentators,” Murdoch said. “Some of our commentators were endorsing it.”
“If I’m [Bartiromo], that feels like the kiss of death,” Byers said.
“The last thing on earth that Murdoch wants is to leave himself vulnerable to another $787-million headache,” he said.
“If you’re trying to avoid future libel lawsuits, that’s not exactly the kind of person you want on camera,” he said
Deciphering the post-settlement legal murmurs surrounding Fox’s new vulnerabilities, audience leakage, and a potential blood sacrifice.
With Puck’s @tina_nguyen, @DylanByers, and @eriqgardner https://t.co/VnmHkfUAAz
— Puck (@PuckNews) April 19, 2023
In the wake of the end of the Dominion lawsuit against Fox News, the hosts of ABC’s “The View” were furious.
There was an agreement reached between Dominion and Fox News on Tuesday which settled on Fox News paying a record $757.5 for defamation. However, the news network was not required to apologize to Dominion for any wrongdoing.
“Fox News CEO admitted in a deposition the network knew they were pushing lies,” cohost Whoopi Goldberg said. “Should they have had to go onto their own network and say, look, yes, we lied to y’all. And we knew it and we had to pay this money because we lied to y’all. They don’t have to do that. They don’t have to admit any wrongdoing.”
“That’s my biggest problem with it because we already know the Fox News viewer exclusively gets his or her news from Fox News on air,” co-host Sunny Hostin said. “They don’t read other newspapers, they don’t get news from any other outlet, and the fact the New York Times is covering it and CNN is covering it, that’s fine. But they need to be able to get on air and tell their viewers, ‘you can’t trust us. We lied to you. We affected our very democracy. Some of our anchors can’t be trusted,’ and they needed to say that.”
According to Hostin, $757.5 million was not enough compensation for the defamation case, which was the largest in defamation history.
“To me, anything under $1 billion I don’t think sends the right message because Rupert Murdoch, every year, I think he has $2.9 billion in pro forma earnings that Fox News makes, and he still has $4 billion in cash as of February. In my view, it didn’t sting enough for what they actually did,” she said.
“You wanted to hear Tucker go out there…but I think is’ good, it’s OK, because, I mean, you’re disappointed, but there are other lawsuits coming up,” cohost Joy Behar said. “If Rupert [Murdoch] wanted to maintain any integrity, he’d fire Laura Ingraham, Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity.”
“I understand there’s a lot coming down the pike,” cohost Whoopi Goldberg said. “But I don’t like the idea that they don’t have to say it out loud. I don’t like that you’re hoping people will read the deposition. I wanted them to have to say, ‘we lied. And we knew we were lying but we lied anyway.’”
FOX NEWS SETTLES DOMINION DEFAMATION SUIT: After a $787.5 million settlement was reached in Dominion Voting Systems' defamation lawsuit against the network over false election claims, #TheView co-hosts question if justice was served. https://t.co/cVclFZQmjA pic.twitter.com/o6sLjuXV1T
— The View (@TheView) April 19, 2023
Previously, the judge stated that the trial would be delayed until yesterday, which led many to believe that the parties were nearing a settlement.
