Speculate there were a lot of different things going on I had a lot of opinions that were unpopular you know with people who might have influenced uh my show getting cancel so I I I really don’t know I will say you know right after it happened
People said well how can they fire the top Guy and because that’s what it is I’m certainly not the first high-rated host to get fired it’s not only about ratings there are a lot of different factors it’s a big company you all have worked for and run big companies and you
Know it’s there’s a lot of complicated stuff going on and um and it’s never exactly clear you know why things happen the way they do but I was not shocked by it I mean I was shocked by it in a short-term sense I didn’t expect to have
My show canceled that morning but um but I was not shocked at all uh when I thought about it for a minute I’d expected that you know you can’t kind of give the finger to everybody um and persist in a in a corporate job so I no
Hard feelings I and I and in fact I said that on the call when I received the news it’s it’s not my company and I never felt like I had a right to be on the air I was I was working at the pleasure of the family that runs the
Company who treated me very well and and um and they wanted me off and so I was off did you ever have moments where somebody Taps you on the shoulder and says Advertiser XYZ is getting uncomfortable or we’re trying to lend this new Advertiser and they want you to
Shape things in one did you ever feel that pressure is that or is that just a thing that is kind of like a boogeyman that doesn’t actually exist oh it well it it not only exists it defines news coverage especially on Pharma you know because Pharma is the biggest Advertiser
In television as I know you know and so for sure I mean if you know fizer sponsoring your show you’re not going to question the facts I mean it’s kind of that simple uh so absolutely and of course that’s why they’re the biggest advertisers so they can shape news
Coverage I mean that’s that’s the point but um I personally never had a single person say to me don’t say this that I recall I haven’t thought about it too much but that certainly I was there 14 years and I I didn’t have that experience regularly or at all really that I can
Remember and and I think you know my producers may have been told that but it it didn’t ever get to me because I was always really clear which is I I always said out loud to the supervisors there you know I work for your company I don’t
Own this network all I can control is what I say if you don’t like what I say don’t have me on TV but as long as I’m on TV I’m going to say what I think is true and in a million cases I said only
Part of what I think not because of my employer but it’s because you shouldn’t actually say everything you think I mean I have some crackpot views too or I have resentments that I didn’t want to work out on the air I mean I did you know you’re strain yourself and you want to
As you do in your personal life but on no question of principle that I ever pull back because I just I wouldn’t do that and again I was just super clear if you don’t like what I’m saying take me off the air but I’m not going to you
Know tow a line and because I was so clear about that I I just think they didn’t think it was worth having some kind of dispute with me and to their great credit for the time that I was there and I said this many times in public like I took positions on the
Ukraine war on the covid vaccine on the co lockdowns among other issues that I think you know I’ve been V Vindicated on pretty conclusive ly on the origins of Co and all of those were super unpopular on January 6th which was so hated at the company where I worked that people a
Number of people including on air people four that I can think of resigned in protest over my over me suggesting that actually was more complicated than it looked and there were a bunch of federal agents in the crowd how can you say that are you claiming a false flag well no
Not wouldn’t use that phrase but like this is something weird going on here well I’ve been Vindicated on that that sounds like I’m bragging I’m not I’m just stating factually that uh I said things that were truly hated by a lot of the people who worked there and they let me keep
Saying them so it’s kind of hard to complain really at this point right again it’s not my company just from a business standpoint I think it’s weird for a company to fire their top performer and to do so without giving any notes I mean if any of us had a
Superstar executive or a superstar engineer like a 100x engineer working at one of our companies and like day in and day out they were you know hitting every Milestone and crushing it like if you had a problem with them you would give them a note you would just like try to
Say hey can we just like so I just think from like a business standpoint it’s so weird it just seems like self-destructive and I think it was I mean their ratings really cratered in the Wake right of making this change maybe they’ve come back a little bit but
I don’t think it’s ever been the same I just think it’s a crazy way to operate a business so yeah it’s their right I mean they can do whatever they want want but I don’t understand it as a way of doing business well I don’t understand it as a
Way of living either I mean you know you everybody in the course of life whether is a a parent or an employer or just a friend has to deliver uncomfortable news or disagree with someone that you deal with and you have a moral obligation to explain the disagreement you you can’t
Just you know Levy the penalty and leave it at that you have to explain why you’re doing that and and I think that’s it’s it’s incumbent on us morally to do that I wasn’t that mad about it actually because I know the rules of that particular business which are are really
Harsh and and I’ve been in it you know my whole life and so I’ve seen a lot of people as talented or more talented than I meet bad ends and in you know for reasons that I thought were not justified and and I I know them all
Really well so I you you work in a business like that you know what it is you know the black car is going to show up at 3:00 a.m. and toachi to L Bianca and that’s just what it is you know what I mean you can’t kind of whine about it
You know well how much of it was the you know this is a family-owned business mhm and the patriarch obviously pioneered opinion-based you know journalism entertainment commentary and the younger ones maybe were on the other side of the political aisle and maybe were not as I don’t know Cutthroat or maybe didn’t
Share the same philosophy of uh their dad what was your relationship like with the the new generation with rert Etc and how much did that play into it do you think well my my relationship with the father and son who are directly involved in in that company was from my
Perspective very strong and um I will say this about the murdocks they’re very polite I mean they’re really kind of very Anglo almost elaborately polite in a way that I’m not mocking I’m complimenting and um they’re not confrontational they’re not nasty in the way that they deal with people directly
And and I prefer that as sort of a way of communicating with people so I got along with them very very well I always liked them and they were very nice to me elaborately nice to me and always gave me assurances of my right to say what I
Thought was was true and so again I can only speculate I will say though and you see this with Trump especially I don’t think I’m anywhere near as divisive As Trump obviously I’m not as powerful As Trump I’m not the figure Trump is but one thing that maybe Trump and I have in
Common is were really disliked by a certain set of people you know affluent people Highly Educated people people who work at NOS government Finance you know really kind of hate a certain brand of politics so it’s not being conservative you can be conservative in the sort of
You know I work at Ko or Heritage or you know we need to get back to free trade or whatever that kind of thing the reaganite Forum policy that’s all fine but if you start asking questions like well why doesn’t our country act in its own interest there’s something about
That that’s uniquely offensive to them and to that whole class of people now I could not have more contempt or loathing for those people having grown up among them I know how repulsive they are so you know they’re their hatred of me is I wear as a badge of honor it actually
Makes me happy but it’s hard to take I would say I mean again I’m I’m just speculating in my specific case but I know more broadly like it’s very hard to have lunch at the Four Seasons in Jackson during the winter because there’s some private Equity wife who’s
Going to scream at you on your way to the men’s room because that world hates you and so if you live in that world and you’re employing someone like me you know you hear about it I guess that’s my point you hear about it like what that guy’s a Nazi
Like who who wants to deal with that
