Fox News, Jeanine Pirro, and Donna Brazile – Oh, My!

Image result for jeanine pirro

Jeanine Pirro

Donna Brazile

Dear Commons Community.

The fallout from Jeanine Pirro’s rant about the hijab worn by Congresswoman Ilhan Omar keeps coming back into the news media.  Yesterday, the Council on Islamic-American Relations(CAIR) called on advertisers to boycott Fox News entirely until the network axes the controversial hostess.

The call comes just days after Pirro’s Saturday night program, “Justice With Judge Jeanine,” was yanked by Fox after she said in the previous episode that the hijab worn by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) may be “antithetical to the Constitution.” In fact, the Constitution guarantees the right of free expression of religion. As reported by the Huffington Post:

“It’s not clear what Pirro’s future is on the network. Fox has refused to comment on “internal scheduling matters,” though it earlier issued a statement “strongly” condemning Pirro’s statement.

CAIR, the largest Muslim advocacy and civil rights group in America, is also calling for advertisers to demand that Fox drop Tucker Carlson in the wake of unearthed audiotapes of the news host making racist and sexist comments on a radio program. Some advertisers have already abandoned the program.

“Fox News must clearly state that Jeanine Pirro will not be allowed back on the air after her long history of Islamophobic hate rhetoric, and the network must also take similar action against other Islamophobic hosts like Tucker Carlson,” Nihad Awad, CAIR’s national executive director, said in a statement provided to HuffPost. “All existing advertisers should drop their ads on Fox News to ensure that they are not associated with the promotion of hate.” 

At least four advertisers — Botox-maker Allergan, online marketplace Letgo, personal finance company NerdWallet and pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk — have all indicated they’re pulling their ads from Pirro’s program, according to The Hollywood Reporter. 

President Donald Trump on Sunday called on Fox to bring Pirro back on the air. 

In a real twist to all of this, Fox News announced yesterday that it had hired former Democrat National Committee chair and CNN contributor Donna Brazile as a Fox political commentator.

In an appearance on Dana Perino’s Fox News show yesterday, Brazile said that she was joining the network as an opportunity to listen and reach out to the “Fox family” adding: “This is a critical period in our country. It’s a time for dialogue, it’s a time for civility. We’re not going to get ahead by yelling at each other and sending nasty tweets.”

Lots of goings-on at Fox News!

Tony

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