A longtime Fox News producer was fired after upper management determined he was directly responsible for the on-air message that called President Joe Biden a “wannabe dictator.”
via NYDN:
Alex McCaskill, who had been with the network for 10 years and served as a producer for Tucker Carlson, confirmed his exit in an Instagram post Friday.
McCaskill stayed on at Fox even after Carlson was fired on April 24, a move that has still never been fully explained by the company. Carlson’s departure came abruptly and suddenly, less than a week after Fox agreed to pay a settlement of $787 million to Dominion Voting Systems for defamation during the 2020 presidential election.
The incident that now finds McCaskill exiting the network occurred Tuesday evening, during the final minutes of Carlson’s old time slot.
As split-screen videos showed Biden and Trump speaking at separate events, a chyron appeared, reading, “Wannabe dictator speaks at the White House after having his political rival arrested,” referring to Trump’s arraignment on federal charges related to the hoarding of classified documents.
In a monologue posted to his Twitter page on Thursday, Carlson said “the women who run the network panicked” after the message was posted and reprimanded the man responsible. Carlson didn’t give the producer’s name, but claimed he was “considered one of the most capable persons in the building.”
Although the producer offered to resign following two weeks’ notice, he was instructed to collect his things and leave immediately, Carlson claimed.
In a statement Wednesday, Fox said the issue of the problematic chyron had been “addressed,” without giving a full explanation.
A Twitter post from Justin Baragona of The Daily Beast showed McCaskill pictured Friday outside of Fox’s office clutching a box, with a message from what appeared to be his Instagram account.
“Today was my last day at Fox,” read the caption beneath the photo. “It’s been a wild 10 years and it was the best place I’ve ever worked because of the great people I met. But the time has come. I asked them to let me go, and they finally did.”
Another problematic producer down.
Former Fox News producer Alexander McCaskill, who parted ways with the network for airing the “wannabe dictator” chyron, posted this photo of him leaving Fox offices on his Instagram.
McCaskill was also a longtime producer/editor for Tucker Carlson.https://t.co/MvJqRMiBOR pic.twitter.com/4ebvPhadsy
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) June 16, 2023
