Fox News media commentator Howard Kurtz said that the rogue chyron about President Joe Biden “went too far” amid ongoing fallout from the message.
The controversial banner showed up on the screen at the end of Fox’s 8 p.m. hour on Tuesday night along with a split view of speeches by both Biden and former President Donald J. Trump, the latter of whom had been arraigned in Miami earlier in the day on charges brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith.
“Wannabe dictator speaks at the White House after having his political arrival arrested,” the chyron read,” triggering a panicked reaction at the network and resulting in the producer who was responsible being sent packing.
On Sunday’s edition of “MediaBuzz,” Kurtz spoke of the troublesome chyron after an update on the retirement of longtime “Wheel of Fortune” host Pat Sajak during a segment covering the week’s big news stories.
(Video: Fox News)
“Fox News briefly put up a banner that went too far on the day of Donald Trump’s arraignment, referring to President Biden. ‘Wannabe dictator speaks at White House after having his political rival arrested.’ Fox said in a statement the chyron was taken down immediately and was addressed,” Kurtz said.
(Image: Screengrab/Twitter)
The chyron triggered leftists who exploded over the audacity of the suggestion that their leader was a dictator despite the fact that his top rival HAD been arrested and could spend the rest of his life in a prison cell if his Justice Department gets its way.
White House Press Secretary Karine-Jean Pierre, who recently boasted of her place in history, unloaded on the “wannabe dictator” chyron when asked about it by a reporter during a daily press briefing last week.
“Last night, Fox News ran a chyron that referred to the president as a ‘wannabe dictator’ and I’m wondering if the White House has a comment on that…”
Karine Jean-Pierre: “That was wrong” pic.twitter.com/NQY2h4sDDe
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 14, 2023
The furious response served as the topic for former Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s latest Twitter episode in which he sarcastically ran down all the reasons why Biden could not be a “wannabe dictator” with his standard acerbic wit.
Ep. 4 Wannabe Dictator pic.twitter.com/MDcs5g0gxB
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) June 15, 2023
Carlson also addressed the producer responsible and the reaction inside Fox News headquarters.
“Inside Fox, the women who run the network panicked. First, they scolded the producer who put the banner on the screen. Less than 24 hours after that, he resigned,” he said.
“He had been at Fox for more than a decade. He was considered one of the most capable people in the building. He offered to stay for the customary two weeks, but Fox told him to clear out his desk and leave immediately,” Carlson added.
The producer, Alex McCaskill confirmed his ouster on social media, posting a picture of himself with his stuff in a cardboard box outside the building.
(Image: Screengrab/Twitter)
“Today was my last day at FOX. It’s been a wild 10 years and it was the best place I’ve ever worked because of the great people I met,” he said. “But the time has come. I asked them to let me go, and they finally did. To all my friends there: I will miss you forever.”
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