Fox News Media on Thursday announced that Trump campaign adviser Harlan Z. Hill, who has been presenting himself as a PR and political consultant, is no longer welcome on their programmes after he tweeted that Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris "comes off as an insufferable lying b***h".
"We have no intention of booking him as a guest on any of our platforms", a Fox News Media spokesperson told The Daily Beast, the day after Hill, a frequent Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network guest, directed what has been deemed by Dems as a blatantly misogynistic attack against the California senator during her heated debate with Vice President Mike Pence.
Hill's tweet provoked a veritable storm online, along with around 6,000 retweets and 6,300 likes from those who apparently shared the criticism against Harris, the daughter of a Jamaican man and an Indian mother.
Among other things, it also received sharp responses from former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson and former paid contributor Julie Roginsky, both of whom sued the channel for alleged sexual harassment and discrimination and received hefty monetary settlements.
Carlson, whose July 2016 sexual discrimination lawsuit led to the ouster of Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes and won her a $20 million settlement, posted condescendingly "Uhhh…THIS" over Roginsky's stinging comment:
"To be clear: Fox News jettisons women who do nothing more than speak up about being sexually harassed but promote men who call women b***hes.' But please, Fox PR: tell us again about how the culture has changed for the better over there".
BREAKING: Fox News’ Harlan Hill just called Kamala Harris an “insufferable lying bitch.”
— Mrs. Krassenstein (@HKrassenstein) October 8, 2020
Raise your hand if you demand that Fox News fires this misogynistic loser immediately.
However, not all seemed to approve of the move.
Harlan Hill tells the truth about Kamala… Banned by Fox News… https://t.co/eAdPoOyHTC
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) October 8, 2020
"So, he gotten taken off the air for telling the truth?", one asked, posting a scornful smiley, while a second weighed in, suggesting Hill was just "a scapegoat":
Why would Fox News start this now? I guess Harlan is their scapegoat for all of the others on the station who use as bad, or worse, names to call Dems, women, etc.
— Laura McGinnis (@TxsleuthUSA) October 8, 2020
…whereas quite a few jeered at Fox News' "awakening":
Because Fox News knows they’ve gone too far.
— HI_McDonaugh (@HI_McDonaugh) October 8, 2020
If the Dems turn the Senate the best hope is they hold a hearing for Fox News, replay their lies (giving on-air talent a chance to defend themselves against their comments) and the network is banded from ever using the term "news".
I guess this is what happens when even Fox News realizes Trump is losing and they’re going to need a new plan come January.
— 🍑Denise ~ Biden/Harris 2020 😷🏡 (@ddshelby) October 8, 2020
Wow. Fox news has standards? Very low standards, but standards none the less.
— Jenn (@jhowellchrist) October 8, 2020
One even suggested Fox "has a habit of 'mistakenly' converting Republicans to Democrats in their chyron", while another queried why they are even still on the air after Donald Trump, who called Kamala Harris "a monster" following the exchange with Pence: "Is it because they care about the vile misogyny of it all or because they can feel a tide turning?", a third asked.
Hill's Twitter bio says that he is part of the Trump campaign's advisory board, and he appeared on footage in the company of campaign official and presidential daughter-in-law Lara Trump, The Daily Beast remarked.
Hill claims on his bio to be a Fox News "commentator", despite not being on the conservative media outlet's payroll.
As a guest, he has made at least 47 appearances on Fox News or Fox Business programmes since 13 December 2017, according to The Daily Beast’s spot check, which suggests that his most recent appearance on the channel dates back to this June.
On his personal website, Hill, who during the 2016 Democratic primary campaign claimed to be a Bernie Sanders supporter before becoming a Republican supporter, listed MSNBC and CNN as outlets on which he's appeared.
Yet, a CNN spokesperson told The Daily Beast that Hill has not appeared on that channel since 20 October 2016. A spokesperson for MSNBC similarly tried to distance itself, writing: "It does not seem that he's been on with us".
Addressing the issue, Hill reiterated in his comments to The Daily Beast that he "has been a guest on Fox News, Fox Business for 5 years", and not a contributor, further stressing that he fully stands by his comments about Harris:
"Kamala Harris was extraordinarily disrespectful to the vice president last night, lied to the American people repeatedly on The Biden/Harris platform, and was just generally unlikable and smug", Hill texted. "I tweeted what I tweeted and I'd tweet it again", he underscored.
