VALLEYWAGTop Fox News Executive Fired Over “Financial Issues” [Updated]
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Fox News executive and Roger Ailes acolyte Brian Lewis was fired and escorted out of the cable news station’s Manhattan headquarters earlier this month, marking an unprecedented departure from the channel’s tightly-knit leadership. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lewis was let go amidst unspecified “financial issues” and “complaints about complacency.” Whether that implies something boring (Lewis’s salary) or interesting (actual malfeasance), Fox’s notoriously cruel PR team is—for now, at least—in the hands of its most notorious flack: Irena Briganti.
Brian Lewis has long been considered one of the most loyal lieutenants of Fox News President Roger Ailes, who hired Lewis in April 1996 — seven months before the channel started broadcasting. With Briganti, Lewis transformed public relations into a full-on contact sport:haranguing anyone who wrote anything remotely negative about the channel, pitting beat reporters against editors, and smearing especially disobedient journalists. Now the machine he created is turned on him.
Per The Hollywood Reporter:
Insiders say that their close relationship made it difficult for Ailes to cut Lewis loose, but the financial issues — details of which were not available Tuesday — coupled with complaints about complacency and other matters, left Ailes feeling as if he had no other choice.
Though the exact nature of the problems swirling around Lewis weren’t known to rank-and-file staffers, witnesses say they amounted to a serious enough breach that it was necessary he be escorted from his office at Fox News headquarters in New York.
Fox News has hidden the departure pretty well until today. Lewis is still listed on the channel’s website (update: Lewis’ page is now deleted), his email address remains valid, and his phone number, when called this afternoon, played a voicemail greeting recorded by Lewis.
Update: Fox News responds, citing “financial irregularities”:
After an extensive internal investigation of Brian Lewis' conduct by Fox News, it was determined that he should be terminated for cause, specifically for issues relating to financial irregularities, as well as for multiple, material and significant breaches of his employment contract. He was terminated for cause on July 25.
[Image of Brian Lewis removed at request of copyright owner.]
Contact the author of this post at trotter@gawker.com
J.K. Trotter started this thread
Gabriel Sherman at New York says Brian Lewis did not want to sue Gawker over our Fox Mole story , but was overruled:
In April 2012, I bumped into Lewis in North Carolina at a cocktail reception before Ailes delivered a speech to UNC Journalism students. Ailes had traveled down to Chapel Hill on News Corp.'s private jet with his handpicked biographer, Zev Chafets, and Lewis. It was a few days after the Fox mole story broke
on Gawker.
“So, we’re gonna sue Gawker, and we might try and have him arrested,” Lewis said, referring to Joe Muto, the mole.
“Why are you guys making such a big deal about this?” I said. “You’re a television network valued at $14 billion. Isn’t this punching down?”
“Dude, I know. I was overruled,” Lewis said. “I told them, but I was told that legal would be handling this from here forward. I’m like, Okay.”
This conversation never took place. Lewis was a tight-lipped lieutenant of Ailes. Those closest to Ailes absolutely NEVER spoke to Gabe Sherman except to refuse to speak to him. How do I know? John Moody told me "None of us spoke to Sherman". Now, does that mean Lewis spoke to Sherman and that's why he was fired - and the rest is BS? No, it doesn't. Because for 17 years, Lewis never, ever, did anything but act as Ailes' rottweiler. The idea that he would confide inside dirt to Sherman is 100% ridiculous.
Yea, like im going to take the word of some user that hasn't ever posted on this site before...
onebadclam started this thread
Does this Drudge tweet have anything to do with it?
TRUTH: Behind scenes shitstorm around reporter Gabriel Sherman and his anti-Ailes FOXNEWS book. Top source caught. Lawyers swarm scene.
— MATT DRUDGE (@DRUDGE) August 21, 2013
Huh. Maybe!
Rush Limbaugh thinks it does.
dvdoff started this thread
Guarantee you he caught one of the interns blowing O'Reilly.
that would require O'Reilly having something on which to blow...
What? He's not of the biggest pricks you know of?
well, there's "is" and then there's "has" and the two are not mutually exclusive...
Are you sure it wasn't a fox news contributor trying to wax his dolphin ?
HoleyMoleyFox started this thread
Why not ask Joe Muto, the Fox News Mole? It's the least Gawker can do after getting him fired and leaving him without a job, plus it gives him a chance to plug his book.
How did Gawker get Joe Muto fired? I'm genuinely curious why that's your impression; I thought that Muto's own account was that he approached Gawker when he decided to be a mole until he got discovered and fired. (I can't find where I read that though, so if I'm misremembering, please tell me.)
Mysticlights started this thread
Damn you Kinja, I believed this was Brian Lewis.
Flm3454 started this thread
Wow, Fox News firing someone for doing something dishonest?
Probably not, it's just Fox's way. As they have explained multiple times, if you ask for more money at your job you're a money-grubbing welfare queen who expects charity. What made you think Fox news employees were exempt from this reality? 'Tis true all the way to the top.
TheGizmofromPizmo started this thread
TheGizmofromPizmo
Now how are they going to blame this on the liberal media...
How about, "he was secretly working for a liberal media outlet" and then hope no one asks any questions beyond that.
Hellephant III: Attackyderm started this thread
Hellephant III: Attackyderm
Sounds like another large nutsack was cut loose today.
econdave started this thread
Sounds like he was fudging his expense account.
DiscoInfernoSupressionSystem
Yup. Ironically much like how FOX News enabled congressional Republicans and their corporate masters to do with America's expense account.
corey3rd started this thread
Must have pocket the last payoff to an O'Reilly producer.
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