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Fox News employees anonymously said they were appalled by host Greg Gutfeld’s remarks about the Holocaust, according to a new report.
During an episode Monday on “The Five,” liberal co-host Jessica Tarlov got into a heated debate with Gutfeld and the other hosts while discussing the recently approved Florida Black history curriculum. Liberals are pointing to one section that teaches that “slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” Republicans have come out and said that the snippet lacks context.
That debate heated up when Tarlov, who said she was Jewish, asked a hypothetical analogizing the Florida standards to a similar the premise of millions of Jewish people killed by the Nazis.
Tarlov said: “I do think that she read the whole thing, and I think that it’s an incredibly complex piece when you look at it, 191 passages. You have some good… And frankly, I’m just fundamentally uncomfortable with the sentence that Blacks benefited at all from this. And. You know, it made me think of someone. Obviously, I’m not Black, but I’m Jewish. Would someone say about the Holocaust, for instance, that there were some benefits for Jews? Right? While they were hanging out in concentration camps. You learned a strong work ethic, right? Maybe you learned a new skill.”
Gutfeld responded: “Did you ever read ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’? Vik Frankel talks about how you had to survive in a concentration camp by having skills. You had to be useful. Utility, utility kept you alive!”
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And according to The Daily Beast’s Justin Baragona, several Fox News insiders said they were angry and “disgusted” by Gutfeld’s comments.
“Obviously, it is a disgusting thing to say, same with Jesse’s remarks on the matter,” one Fox News producer said. “Just generally speaking, I’m amazed that FOX has any ability to retain employees from multicultural backgrounds. Our workplace is shockingly diverse given the vitriol that often makes it to the air. Understand that they’re likely here for the same reasons I am, these jobs are scarce, but I can’t help but feel awful for them because they undoubtedly see this nonsense and can’t do anything to stop it.”
Another reporter told The Daily Beast “Yikes” when asked to react to Gutfeld’s remarks, while a network insider suggested there was a “lot of internal worry.”
“At any other place, his career would be over,” the insider added.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates also released a statement attacking Gutfeld.
“What Fox News allowed to be said on their air yesterday – and has so far failed to condemn – is an obscenity. In defending a horrid, dangerous, extreme lie that insults the memory of the millions of Americans who suffered from the evil of enslavement, a Fox News host told another horrid, dangerous, and extreme lie that insults the memory of the millions of people who suffered from the evils of the Holocaust. Let’s get something straight that the American people understand full well and that is not complicated: there was nothing good about slavery; there was nothing good about the Holocaust. Full stop. Americans deserve to be brought together, not torn apart with poison. And they deserve the truth and the freedom to learn, not book bans and lies,” Bates said.
This comes as Fox News announced its brand new prime-time lineup and revealed who will be taking over Tucker Carlson’s old time slot.
In a press release, the network revealed that Jesse Watters will take the 8 p.m. slot, directly replacing Carlson. Laura Ingraham will move from 10 p.m. to 7 p.m., Sean Hannity will stay at 9 p.m. and Greg Gutfeld will move to 10 p.m. Longtime news anchor Trace Gallagher will move up to 11 p.m.
Since being ousted, Carlson has started tweeting quick monologues, which Fox claims is against the terms of his contract.
The network has sent him a cease-and-desist letter, though so far, he has refused to do so, arguing that Fox violated its contract with him.
