Fox Faces FCC License Threat Over False Election Claims & Jan. 6 Attack

Megan Fox is hitting back at those criticizing her recent Instagram posts. On Tuesday night, Fox posted pictures of herself in a sheer dress with nude-colored pasties covering her top half. "Before you start angrily typing- those are not my nipples, calm down," the 37-year-old actress began her caption.

Mike Biard, a 23-year veteran of Fox Corp., has been appointed president and chief operating officer of Nexstar, the No. 1 owner of local TV stations in the U.S. and the parent of The CW and NewsNation.

Kelly Stafford clarified that she is not battling cancer — and expressed frustration over false stories — as she keeps fans up to date on her recent health scare.

The Guardian for £10million in damages over what he calls “false” reports of alleged sexual harassment.In an exposé published by The Guardian in April 2021, the Bulletproof actor was accused by 20 women of a variety of wrongdoings including bullying, sexual harassment and unwanted sexual contact.Clarke then sued BAFTA for defamation following its decision to suspend his membership after the allegations, before dropping the lawsuit last year.Now, a defamation suit has been filed by Clarke at London’s High Court against The Guardian, seeking damages for financial and reputational damage.The suit says that “the impact on him financially has been devastating” and that he has “not had one single work contract” since the allegations were made.The itemised damages include £250,000 for legal fees regarding the allegations made in the Guardian piece, while he is also claiming aggravated damages for what is described by his lawyers as the “relentless, targeted, vicious and persistent nature of the wholly unjustified defamatory campaign” against him by The Guardian.The hearing has now been delayed until October or November this year due to Clarke wishing to appoint new solicitors.In response, Guardian News & Media said in a statement: “The Guardian‘s investigation was deeply reported and researched, relying on the testimony of 20 women, all of whom knew Noel Clarke in a professional capacity. We stand by our reporting and will be robustly defending our journalism.”After the news of the allegations surfaced, ITV made the decision to pull the finale of Clarke’s Viewpoint.

Jesse Watters’ debut as the permanent occupant of Fox News’ 8 p.m. hour gave the network a boost in the timeslot, versus the series of replacement hosts who have filled the time period since the cancellation of Tucker Carlson’s show.

host Jesse Watters learned this lesson Monday night when his mother, Dr. Anne Watters, a child psychologist with a progressive political stance, called into his show, During her live on-air chat, she congratulated her son and offered advice to him for hosting his program’s first broadcast in the 8 p.m.

Ellise Shafer During Jesse Watters’ first show in Tucker Carlson’s coveted 8 p.m. slot on Fox News, his mom called in with some sage advice, telling the host: “Do not tumble into any conspiracy rabbit holes.” As the show came to an end, Watters took a call from his Democrat mom, who said: “I have enjoyed the show. I want to say congratulations, honeybun, we are so proud of you and your accomplishments, and you’ve worked so hard. Now, let’s aim to have you keep your job.” Carlson, the most-watched primetime host on Fox News, had been known to stoke conspiracy theories, especially in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election and the Jan. 6 insurrection. In April, it was announced that Carlson had exited Fox News just days after parent company Fox Corp. agreed to pay $787.5 million in a settlement to Dominion Voting Systems in a defamation case in which they were accused of questioning the company’s role in the outcome of the election. Carlson was expected to testify should the case have continued. In late June, it was announced that Watters, who previously had his show at 7 p.m., would take over Carlson’s time slot.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Anjali Sud is taking over as CEO of Tubi, Fox Corp.’s free, ad-supported streaming TV service, after she stepped down as chief exec of video-hosting platform Vimeo. Sud will officially start as Tubi’s CEO on Sept. 1, 2023, succeeding founder Farhad Massoudi. Sud reports to Paul Cheesbrough, CEO of Tubi Media Group, which Fox formed this spring to house its digital businesses including Tubi (acquired in 2020) and Blockchain Creative Labs. Sud spent nine years at New York-based Vimeo, originally serving as VP of global marketing before assuming oversight of the creator business unit and getting promoted to CEO in 2017. Under Sud, Vimeo has undertaken employee layoffs and made other cost-cutting moves to improve its financial profile.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor When Sean Hannity handed off his Fox News program to Laura Ingraham last Thursday night, he had company. On-air switches between cable-news hosts make for bright moments on Fox News, CNN and MSNBC, with the audiences at home and producers in studio looking at warm exchanges between personalities like Hannity and Ingraham or Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell. The chatter between former CNN hosts Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon generated so much attention that producers often let the segment bleed into Lemon’s first segment of the night and even time reserved for commercials. These days, Hannity has begun letting a new crowd bear witness.

The BBC’s main primetime news presenter Huw Edwards and his family are receiving advice from former News of the World tabloid editor Andy Coulson, The Guardian reports. 

The Federal Trade Commission is investigating OpenAI’s ChatGPT over whether the artificial intelligence platform that’s been dominating headlines can harm people by publishing false information about them. It’s the latest pushback against fast-moving, still-evolving AI technology that’s disrupting copyright and privacy law and business practices across industries, including Hollywood as SAG-AFTRA prepares to join the WGA on the picket lines.

UPDATE, with video Geraldo Rivera said on ABC’s The View today that his recent firing from Fox News’ The Five came amidst his “toxic relationship” with one of the show’s co-hosts.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor A former Arizona man who claims he had to flee his home after former Fox News host Tucker Carlson deliberately and falsely portrayed him as an undercover FBI agent who launched the January 6, 2020 attacks on the U.S. Capitol, has sued the cable-news outlet for defamation. It is the latest suit from a series of parties who allege Fox News deliberately and with malice broadcast incorrect and damaging accounts about them. Fox Corp., the outlet’s parent, recently paid out $787.5 million to voting-technology firm Dominion Voting Systems over allegations that Fox News deliberately implicated the company in false allegations about the security of the 2020 presidential election, and paid $12 million to a former Fox News producer who alleged she had been hectored into providing false testimony in that matter.

Fox News is facing a new defamation lawsuit from a man who claims that its former host Tucker Carlson falsely identified him as an undercover FBI agent who triggered the January 6th attack on the Capitol.

Former President Donald Trump is doing another cable news town hall, this time for Fox News and with Sean Hannity in Cedar Rapids, IA.

“Trump is the only person… who is saying: ‘Wait a second. You know, why are we supporting an endless war in Ukraine?’”“All I can say at… pic.twitter.com/dTEbQvD27k“I’m struck by his foreign policy views,” Carlson said. “Trump is the only person with stature in the Republican Party really who’s saying, ‘Wait a second, why are we supporting an endless war in Ukraine?’”Carlson went on to say that aside from the fate of Trump’s pursuit to presidency, he’s “grateful that Trump is using his platform to voice his concern about the war. Nevertheless, Carlson did share that he is aware of the ongoing Republican primary and its two lead contenders Trump and Ron DeSantis.

“I don’t know why I was fired, I really don’t,” declared Tucker Carlson today on his sudden departure from the airwaves of Fox News on April 24. “I’m not angry about it,” the former primetime host told pal Russell Brand. “I honestly don’t know.”

Download Festival could be under threat if there is a repeat of this year’s traffic issues, the head of Leicestershire County Council has warned.The festival caused severe congestion on the roads around Donington Park in Leicestershire as fans arrived on June 7 and 8. Some of them said it took them up to seven hours to get on the site.Nick Rushton, the council leader, described the situation as “an absolute disaster” with the worst queues he’d seen in Download’s history.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Fox News agreed to pay $12 million to Abby Grossberg, a former producer for Tucker Carlson and Maria Bartiromo, who alleged the Fox Corp.-backed outlet had coerced her into providing false testimony in a deposition related to a recent defamation suit levied by Dominion Voting Systems as well as operating a hostile and discriminatory workplace. In her suit, filed in the Southern District of the State of New York earlier this year, Grossberg alleged she was harassed and forced to give inaccurate information in the Dominion matter, which Fox agreed to settle for $787.5 million in April. Parisis G. Filippatos, an attorney for Grossberg, did not respond immediately to a query seeking comment. “We are pleased that we have been able to resolve this matter without further litigation,” Fox News said in a statement.

Fox News again topped the June ratings, but the gap has narrowed with MSNBC, the only news network to see across-the-board viewership gains versus 2022.