OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Fox News primetime host Sean Hannity could be among the top stars at the number one cable news network who could find himself axed after a lawsuit by Dominion, which alleged that the network’s hosts promoted “election lies.”
The hosts set to be given the boot include Hannity, Maria Bartiromo, and Jeanine Pirro in order for the network to “save face,” Radar Online reported. What the publication dubbed “blood sacrifices” is also said to include Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott.
Radar Online said that the decision to make the cuts is an effort to not lose any of its massive audience, though it remains to be seen how getting rid of some of the most popular hosts and personalities would assist the network in keeping fans.
“They are totally f—–,” a media insider said to Puck this week. “[Murdoch] screwed himself and the company.”
“According to Murdoch’s testimony, which was released publicly earlier this week, the Fox News honcho himself indicated the Fox News talent that ‘promoted’ Trump’s 2020 election fraud claims should be ‘reprimanded’ or fired as a result of the ongoing multi-billion-dollar lawsuit scandal,” Radar Online said.
On Thursday a man who described himself as a “liberal from California” confronted Hannity on his radio show about the issue.
“You knew the election wasn’t stolen from Trump, and you guys lied about it anyway because you felt you had a good reason,” the person, who said his name was David, said.
But Hannity insisted that he never said that the election was rigged but said that he simply spoke about concerns he had regarding “integrity issues” and “partisan observers” at the voting booths on Election Day.
“No. If you listen to what I said on the air every day, what did I talk about? Let me remind you.” The host said. “I talked about laws being violated. Partisan observers, for example, most states have laws that partisan observers get to watch the vote count from start to finish.”
“In 2020, they were a hundred feet back. They were a thousand feet back,” he said. “They – there was no accommodation to uphold the law that allows partisan observers to observe.”
He also said that states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin violated their state constitutions by passing laws to allow every eligible voter to vote by mail.
“So I focused on those things and I was very, very specific,” he said. “You know, you’re asking me whether or not I talked about other topics, I did not. Those were not arguments that were being made on this show.”
“I said I had problems that there were integrity issues, and I just spelled out what the integrity issues were,” he said.
It comes as Fox News has continued to dominate cable news ratings.
Tucker Carlson’s primetime show on Fox News has smashed another key barrier. AdWeek published the viewership results for cable news shows this week and Carlson remained at number one on Tuesday night.
In the 8 p.m. ET time slot, “Tucker Carlson Tonight” brought in a whopping 3.009 million total viewers. In the same time slot, CNN’s Anderson Cooper had 730,000 and MSNBC’s Chris Hayes at 1.304 million total viewers.
The hit show “The Five” on Fox News came in a close second place in the cable news ratings, bringing in 3.087 million total viewers. CNN’s Jake Tapper had a measly 665,000 total viewers in the same slot.
Fox News dominated in the January cable news ratings as well, drawing more viewers, on average, than both CNN and MSNBC combined. Jesse Watters was part of two shows — The Five and “Jesse Watters Primetime” — that were in the top 5 for viewership in January.
“Fox News still led in total day viewers, averaging 1.35 million viewers, which was down 4% from the same month a year earlier. MSNBC averaged 703,000, up 7%, while CNN posted 524,000, up 7%. In the 25-54 demo, Fox News averaged 173,000, down 23%, while CNN was up 7% with 107,000 and MSNBC rose 5% to 78,000,” Deadline reported.
The outlet added:
The Five was the top show in total viewers, averaging 3.38 million, followed by Tucker Carlson Tonight with 3.19 million, Jesse Watters Primetime with 2.84 million, Hannity with 2.57 million, and Special Report with Bret Baier at 2.42 million.
In the 25-54 demo, Tucker Carlson Tonight averaged 448,000, followed by The Five with 379,000, Jesse Watters Primetime with 319,000, Hannity with 307,000, and Gutfeld! at 301,000.
Fox News averaged 1.95 million viewers, down 13%, while MSNBC posted 1.05 million, down 9%, and CNN was at 629,000, down 1%. In the 25-54 demo, CNN averaged 144,000, which was up 3%. That still trailed Fox News, which averaged 239,000, down 29%. MSNBC posted 109,000, down 16%.
