Fox News Fires Coronavirus-Denying Host, Reportedly Fears Lawsuits For Downplaying Crisis

Fox News responding to criticism in any meaningful way is a rare event. It was shocking enough when they actually fired Bill O’Reilly fo...

Fox News responding to criticism in any meaningful way is a rare event. It was shocking enough when they actually fired Bill O’Reilly for the numerous sexual harassment and assault complaints, and the coronavirus is apparently the latest crisis to scare the network enough to do something.

On that subject, Fox News “parted ways” with popular prime time host Trish Regan on Friday. After Regan drew outrage by pushing the idea that the coronavirus pandemic is some kind of political scam, many are speculating that this was the reason for her departure. According to Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman, “Fox Insiders” are saying that there is a real fear within the company that Regan’s statements and general downplaying of the crisis could have made them vulnerable to lawsuits.

“When I’ve been talking to Fox insiders over the last few days, there’s a real concern inside the network that their early downplaying of the coronavirus actually exposes Fox News to potential legal action by viewers who maybe were misled and actually have died from this,” said Sherman on MSNBC Sunday. “I’ve heard Trish Regan’s being taken off the air is, you know, reflective of this concern that Fox News is in big trouble by downplaying this virus.”

Life comes at you fast. As fast as a virus outbreak, in fact.

Fox News has millions of loyal viewers in the U.S., and their early adoption of Trump’s claims that the pandemic was a hoax has already led to a large segment of these viewers continuing to push dangerous conspiracy theories and flout social distancing guidelines. It’s hard to say how many people this will ultimately kill or how many it has already killed, but current U.S. death toll estimates sit at 100,000 to 240,000.

So excuse us if we take a moment to gloat.