Two Fox News contributors quit on Sunday in protest over the network’s star Tucker Carlson’s Jan. 6 documentary.
Stephen Hayes and Jonah Goldberg, Fox News contributors since 2009, told The New York Times on Sunday that they are resigning following the release of Carlson’s controversial documentary ‘Patriot Purge’ about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
The series currently airing on Fox’s online streaming service Fox Nation, pushes baseless conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, including that it was a “false flag” orchestrated by the government.
Hayes and Goldberg, the founders of The Dispatch, called Carlson’s documentary “dangerous” and inaccurate.
“Whether it’s ‘Patriot Purge’ or anti-vax stuff, I don’t want it in my name, and I want to call it out and criticize it,” Goldberg said. “I don’t want to feel like I am betraying a trust that I had by being a Fox News contributor.”
In a message on The Dispatch explaining their decision to leave the network, the pair wrote:
“The special—which ran on Fox’s subscription streaming service earlier this month and was promoted on Fox News—is presented in the style of an exposé, a hard-hitting piece of investigative journalism. In reality, it is a collection of incoherent conspiracy-mongering, riddled with factual inaccuracies, half-truths, deceptive imagery, and damning omissions. And its message is clear: The U.S. government is targeting patriotic Americans in the same manner —and with the same tools—that it used to target al Qaeda.”
Meanwhile, Carlson is celebrating the pair’s departure saying it was “great news” and Fox News “viewers will be grateful.”
