Fox News Channel has announced it will drop any future airings of advertisements featuring wealthy democratic donor Tom Steyer after receiving a huge backlash from viewers.
The commercial, which Steyer is depicted making a “passionate” and frankly creepy plea to impeach President Trump, is still in heavy rotation over at CNN.
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But Fox News says it won’t air any more ads from a wealthy Democratic donor advocating President Donald Trump’s impeachment due its viewers’ strong negative reaction.
Trump tweeted about the spot calling mega-donor Tom Steyer “wacky and totally unhinged.”
Steyer, a billionaire hedge fund operator, calls on television viewers to sign a petition urging Trump’s impeachment. His lawyer, Brad Deutsch, said Monday that 1.5 million people had signed the petition.
Steyer had bought seven more ads for the following week on Fox News, Deutsch said, but the company called and canceled them. “Due to the strong negative reaction to their ad by our viewers, we could not in good conscience take their money,” said Jack Abernethy, co-president of Fox News.
Deutsch noted that the ad had aired on other stations owned by Fox News’ parent company, even during the World Series. He said Steyer believes that Fox succumbed to pressure from the White House to scuttle the ad. “Fox News is admitting that they don’t provide their viewers with information if the information upsets their audience,” he said. “Are they making the same decisions with respect to the news?” source
Fox provided no additional comment on the ad’s cancellation.