LOS ANGELES (AP) – Fox Business Network’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” the host of which has made unsubstantiated claims of election fraud in the 2020 election, has been canceled.
In a statement Friday, Fox News Media said the move was part of routine program changes it announced in an announcement last fall.
Fox News Media “is regularly reviewing program changes and plans to introduce new formats as appropriate after the elections, including for Fox Business – this is part of those planned changes,” the company said.
Whether the cancellation ended Dobbs’ career at Fox Business was not addressed and the company had no further comment. The former CNN presenter started his show on the station in March 2011 and became one of the most watched programs on the business news channel.
The statement appeared to distance the overturning of a billion dollar defamation lawsuit filed Thursday against Fox and three of its hosts, including Dobbs, by election technology company Smartmatic. In a previous statement, Fox News said it would “vigorously defend this unsubstantiated lawsuit in court”.
The replacement for “Lou Dobbs Tonight” will be announced soon, Fox News said. The show last aired on Friday, with a guest presenter sitting for Dobbs who had no immediate explanation.
An interim show, “Fox Business Tonight,” will air starting at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Monday with rotating hosts Jackie DeAngelis and David Asman and will be repeated at 7:00 p.m. EST.
In December, Smartmatic sent a letter to Fox and two other networks, Newsmax and One America News Network, which are also popular with supporters of former President Donald Trump.
That month, Fox aired pre-recorded segments in which a voting technology expert said he saw no evidence that Smartmatic software was used to change the number of votes. The segments aired on Dobbs’ programming and on Fox News Channel shows starring Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro.
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