Today we’re running a full-page ad in the New York Daily News demanding that Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes stop promoting and profiting from race-baiting. Check out the ad here: http://bit.ly/...
This open letter is just the latest step in our ongoing efforts to hold News Corporation, Fox News and Fox Business accountable. The appeal comes after more than 110,000 people around the country called on Ailes to fire Fox Business personality Eric Bolling. We reached out to Ailes last week to alert him of the outcry in response to his network’s latest display of race-baiting. Ailes’ response? Silence.
In case you missed the news, Bolling is the “Follow the Money” host who claimed earlier this month that President Obama has a habit of having “hoodlum[s] in the hizzouse,” referring to an official meeting the president had with an African head of state at the White House. In the segment, the African politician appeared photo-shopped with a gold tooth. This came on the heels of Bolling accusing Obama of “chugging forties” in Ireland instead of tending to the victims of tornadoes in Missouri. Bolling issued a weak apology, claiming that he and his guests got “fast and loose” with the language. But that doesn’t explain the photo-shopping, other graphics that accompanied the segment, or Bollings’ comments on Twitter that repeated the offensive messages.
Unfortunately, this unabashed use of racial stereotypes is par for the course at Fox. We’ve seen it with Glenn Beck, John Stossel, and a number of other personalities at the networks. And if the 2008 campaign season was any indication, with its “terrorist fist jab” and “Obama’s baby mama” moments, America needs to prepare itself for another round race-baiting aimed at driving us apart.
That’s why we’ve taken our call for accountability to Ailes’ and Murdoch’s doorstep with today’s ad in the Daily News calling them out for continuing to ignore and profit from the race-baiting on Fox.
If you haven’t already, join our campaign. We’ll need your help in the weeks and months ahead.