Fox News Staffers Accuse Network of ‘Rank Racism’ (Report)
Fox News staffers accused the network of “rank racism” and creating “a white supremacist cell inside the top cable network in America, the one that directly influences the president,” according to the Daily Beast.
In a report published Friday, the Daily Beast writes that more than a dozen staffers said they believe upper management has fostered a toxic environment that is evident in programming and within the company.
The piece references a June 9 call — between Black staffers and Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott, President Jay Wallace, vice president of diversity and inclusion Marsheila J. Hayes and HR head Kevin Lord — that came about after “Special Report With Bret Baier” aired a graphic tying the killing of Black men to changes in the stock market.
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During the call, per the report, Fox Business Network host Charles Payne indicated he felt discriminated against and had been passed over for advancements in favor of white colleagues.
In a June 6 internal email reviewed by TheWrap and written the same day Fox News apologized for the graphic, Scott asked for the June 9 meeting.
She wrote, “Part of this discussion will involve the Special Report infographic from Friday evening which was deeply insensitive and should have never aired — period. We have publicly condemned the use of the graphic and addressed this internally with the show team and all involved. I want to apologize to each of you for the pain it caused and welcome your feedback so we can ensure this does not happen again.”
Fox News said in a statement to TheWrap on Friday, “Fox News Media is committed to providing an ongoing dialogue targeting issues of diversity and workplace inclusion, which is why we recently took the unprecedented action of providing an open forum among an intimate group of diverse employees to candidly discuss this critical issue. We have long been a leader in cable news for featuring a broad range of voices, and will continue those efforts to ensure all views are respected and celebrated both on and off air.”
Two sources said Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch approved the remarks Tucker Carlson gave earlier this week when addressing the resignation of his head writer, Blake Neff, after it was learned that Neff had anonymously been posting racist and misogynistic statements on a forum.
“They created a cell–they created a white supremacist cell inside the top cable network in America, the one that directly influences the president… This is rank racism excused by Murdoch,” one staffer to the outlet said to the Daily Beast.
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