Fox News drops ‘Lou Dobbs Tonight’ amid Smartmatic lawsuit

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Fox News media has canceled Lou Dobbs’ show, ‘Lou Dobbs Tonight,’ shortly after Smartmatic company filed a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against the network and the host.
• A staunch ally of President Donald Trump, Dobbs has defamed Smartmatic by airing stories and inviting guests claiming that the company “manipulated” the 2020 presidential elections.
• The complaint also involved Fox News hosts Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro, as well as Trump’s leading counsel Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell.

After being slapped with a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit by Smartmatic electronic voting systems, Fox News Media has suspended ‘Lou Dobbs Tonight,’ the show hosted by Lou Dobbs, a well-known Trump supporter. 

Dobbs’ show was an apparent venue where the network aired erroneous claims of massive voter fraud during the 2020 presidential elections.

The move was confirmed by a Fox News representative on Friday, which was first reported by the Los Angeles Times. 

A Fox News spokesman described the move as something that was already set even before the lawsuit came.

“As we said in October, Fox News Media regularly considers programming changes and plans have been in place to launch new formats as appropriate post-election, including on Fox Business — this is part of those planned changes,” the spokesperson said.

The ‘Lou Dobbs Tonight’ show will temporarily be replaced by ‘Fox Business Tonight’ with alternating hosts David Asman and Jackie DeAngelis.

“A new 5PM program will be announced in the near future,” the spokesperson said.

Dobbs’ show cancellation marks the end of his over 10 years of broadcast as part of Fox News Media, as he vocally advocated for President Donald Trump and promoted many of his lies and bizarre conspiracy theories.

Prior to his stint on Fox Network, Dobbs originally started his show on CNN way back in 1980.

In the complaint filed by Smartmatic last week, it claimed that Fox Corporation — through the Fox News media alongside Dobbs, and hosts Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro, as well as Trump’s legal counsel Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell — tainted the company’s reputation by claiming without basis that Smartmatic manipulated the election results.

In various instances, the aforementioned hosts and their guests have illustrated how Smartmatic got involved in the ‘massive voter fraud’ narrative in several key swing states when in reality, its software was utilized only in Los Angeles County. No evidence of fraud or irregularity was found. 

In a statement, the news network said that it was “committed to providing the full context of every story with in-depth reporting and clear opinion. We are proud of our 2020 election coverage and will vigorously defend this meritless lawsuit in court.

If Smartmatic wins the case, Fox News would need to let go of all the profits it generated in the 2019 fiscal year.

Source: NBC News