Fox News on Saturday sent a memo to staff condemning the “horrific racist, misogynistic and homophobic behavior” of Tucker Carlson’s former top writer, Blake Neff.
Neff resigned on Friday after CNN Business discovered that he had been posting racist and sexist material in an online forum under a pseudonym.
“Neff’s abhorrent conduct on this forum was never divulged to the show or the network until Friday, at which point we swiftly accepted his resignation,” FOX News Media CEO Suzanne Scott and FOX News Media President & Executive Editor Jay Wallace wrote in the memo. “Make no mistake, actions such as his cannot and will not be tolerated at any time in any part of our work force.”
Neff disparaged Black and Asian people and derided a woman for being a “megashrew” in multiple pseudonymous posts. Comments include, “Black doods staying inside playing Call of Duty is probably one of the biggest factors keeping crime down,” which CNN said Neff wrote last month. In another post made this week, CNN reported that Neff said that he “wouldn’t get LASIK from an Asian for free” in response to an email thread with the subject line, “Would u let a JET BLACK congo n— do lasik eye surgery on u for 50% off?”
Scott and Wallace said that Carlson will address the controversy on his show Monday night.
Neff was asked to join “Tucker Carlson Tonight” as a writer in November 2016 from the Daily Caller, where he was an education correspondent, according to a recent profile published in Dartmouth University’s alumni magazine. In the profile, Neff also said he was responsible for the “first drafts” for “anything” that Carlson was reading off the teleprompter.
Read Fox’s full memo below:
Dear colleagues,
Yesterday we learned that now former employee Blake Neff, a writer on Tucker Carlson Tonight, made horrendous and deeply offensive racist, sexist and homophobic comments under a pseudonym on the forum AutoAdmit.
We want to make abundantly clear that FOX News Media strongly condemns this horrific racist, misogynistic and homophobic behavior. Neff’s abhorrent conduct on this forum was never divulged to the show or the network until Friday, at which point we swiftly accepted his resignation. Make no mistake, actions such as his cannot and will not be tolerated at any time in any part of our work force.
Tucker will be addressing this on his show on Monday night.
Thank you,
Suzanne & Jay
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Fox News has enhanced the careers of numerous women who have served as hosts. All were hired by Roger Ailes, the former network boss who exited in August 2016 amid a sexual harassment scandal.
Greta Van Susteren -- who had been one of Ailes' most stalwart defenders -- left in early September 2016 after saying that Fox had "not felt like a home" for years.
Laurie Dhue was a familiar presence on Fox in the early 2000s but left the network in 2008. She has reportedly been shopping a tell-all book this year.
Outspoken host Elisabeth Hasselbeck left "The View" to join "Fox & Friends" in 2013, which she exited at the end of 2015.
Andrea Tantaros, former co-host of "The Five," filed a lawsuit saying that Fox News operated like a "sex-fueled, Playboy-Mansion-like cult."
Alisyn Camerota hosted a number of Fox News programs during a 16-year run that ended in 2014. She now hosts "New Day" on CNN.
Rudi Bakhtiar jumped from CNN to Fox News in 2006. She claimed she was sexually harassed by correspondent Brian Wilson and later spoke out against Fox News' culture after the Ailes scandal broke. She now works at Reuters.
Kiran Chetry was a Fox News host from 2001 to 2007. She was reportedly also an aspirant for a role on "Fox & Friends," the network's morning show.
Libertarian commentator Jedediah Bila appeared on Fox's "Outnumbered" and later turned up on ABC's "The View."
Her lawsuit started it all: Former Fox host Gretchen Carlson claims Ailes repeatedly sexually harassed her. Her suit was later settled for a reported $20 million.
Megyn Kelly ended her 12-year run with Fox News in early 2017 in exchange for a weekday show at NBC. She turned down a four-year, $100 million offer to stay with Fox News saying that one of the reasons for her departure was to spend more time with her kids. Kelly said she was among those at Fox News sexually harassed by Ailes.
"Happening Now" anchor Jenna Lee announced that she was leaving the Fox News after working there for 10 years. Lee said she still loves being a journalist and that she has "some really big ideas on how to better serve you in that particular arena" without Fox News.
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The Roger Ailes and Bill O’Reilly scandals have cast even some old departures in a new light
Fox News has enhanced the careers of numerous women who have served as hosts. All were hired by Roger Ailes, the former network boss who exited in August 2016 amid a sexual harassment scandal.
