Fox News on Friday announced that it had fired «The Five» co-host Bob Beckel for a remark he made to an employee of color. «Bob Beckel was terminated today for making an insensitive remark to an African-American employee, » a network spokesperson said in a short statement.<\/b>
\nFox News on Friday announced that it had fired \u201cThe Five\u201d co-host Bob Beckel for a remark he made to an employee of color.
\u201cBob Beckel was terminated today for making an insensitive remark to an African-American employee, \u201d a network spokesperson said in a short statement.
It wasn\u2019 t immediately clear who would replace Beckel on \u201cThe Five\u201d and Fox News did not provide details on the incident that led to his firing. Beckel was not immediately available for comment.
Douglas Wigdor and Jeanne Christensen, lawyers handling a growing racial discrimination lawsuit filed by current and former Fox employees, said in a joint statement that Beckel told one of their clients, a black IT worker, that he was leaving the office while the employee serviced his computer because the employee is black. When the IT worker filed a complaint, Beckel attempted to intimidate him to withdraw it, Wigdor and Christensen said.
\u201cAs with our other 22 clients, we intend on holding 21st Century Fox accountable for these actions and will be filing multiple other complaints in other matters next week, \u201d Wigdor and Christensen said.
In response, a Fox News spokesperson said in a statement that the network \u201cmade the decision to terminate Mr. Beckel after a prompt and thorough investigation.\u201d
\u201cNo one tried to persuade Mr. Wigdor\u2019s client to withdraw his complaint, \u201d the Fox News spokesperson said.
This is not the first time Beckel, who was also a contributor at CNN for a brief period beginning in late 2015, has parted ways with Fox News. Beckel previously left Fox News in 2015 after undergoing back surgery.
Bill Shine, who was at the time Fox News\u2019 executive vice president of programming, said at the time that the network refused to be held \u201chostage\u201d to his \u201cpersonal issues.\u201d
\u201cHe took tremendous advantage of our generosity, empathy and goodwill and we simply came to the end of the road with him, \u201d Shine said in a statement then.
Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of Fox News, unexpectedly announced Beckel\u2019s return to Fox News earlier this year, saying he was \u201cmissed by many fans of \u2018The Five.’\u201d
Fox News recently moved \u201cThe Five\u201d to the 9 p.m. hour as part of a broader shakeup of its programming following the cancellation of \u201cThe O\u2019 Reilly Factor\u201d in the wake of a scandal surrounding its host Bill O\u2019 Reilly and settlements made with five women who had accused him of sexual harassment or verbal abuse.<\/p>\n

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