Fox News Producer Leaves Following Controversial Onscreen Statement About President Biden

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Alex McCaskill, a veteran producer for the Tucker Carlson show on Fox News, has left the network. He was implicated in the incident of an onscreen headline that labeled President Joe Biden as a “wannabe dictator” in light of the charges against former President Donald Trump.

McCaskill confirmed his departure via a post on Instagram, though Fox News did not comment on the matter on Friday.

Despite Tucker Carlson, Fox News’ top-rated host, being dismissed on April 24, McCaskill had stayed on. The reason behind Carlson’s abrupt departure, which happened less than a week after Fox settled a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for $787 million, has not been publicly clarified.

During the closing minutes of Carlson’s former broadcast slot on Tuesday, the contentious message was displayed in separate onscreen boxes showing Biden and Trump speaking. The text stated, “Wannabe dictator speaks at the White House after having his political rival arrested.”

In a Twitter thread published on Thursday, Carlson claimed that the network’s female leaders “panicked” over the post and reprimanded the individual responsible. He didn’t name the producer but recognized him as “one of the most competent individuals in the building.”

According to Carlson, the producer offered to resign with a two weeks’ notice, but was instructed to immediately pack up his desk and leave.

On Wednesday, Fox stated that the controversial chyron had been removed and the matter had been “addressed,” though no additional information was given.

An Instagram post shared on Twitter by The Daily Beast’s Justin Baragona shows McCaskill outside the Fox News office in Manhattan holding a box.

“Today was my last day at Fox,” McCaskill’s message under the picture read. “It’s been a wild 10 years and it was the best place I’ve ever worked because of the great people I met. But the time has come. I asked them to let me go, and they finally did. To all my friends there: I will miss you forever.”

Attempts to reach McCaskill through a phone number listed under his name were not immediately successful.

Many of Biden’s detractors have claimed that Trump’s indictment on charges of concealing classified documents and resisting governmental efforts to recover them was politically motivated. President Biden has remained silent on the issue.

McCaskill was cited in a lawsuit filed earlier this spring by a former Fox producer, Abby Grossberg, who also worked on Carlson’s team. The lawsuit alleged that McCaskill consistently demeaned female employees at Fox, even suggesting that a lactation room was a “waste of space” and proposing a tanning room for men instead, as per the lawsuit’s content.

Fox News has refuted the allegations made in Grossberg’s lawsuit.

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Contributions to this report were made by Beatrice Dupuy, Big Big News correspondent, and Rhonda Shafner, a researcher based in New York.

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• Former President Donald Trump
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