Fox News host Greg Gutfeld joined the pile-on of colleague, Howard Kurtz, after he described slain right-wing activist Charlie Kirk as “no saint” when it came to controversial comments, and mocked the fact that the network had canceled his show MediaBuzz so he would be unable to follow up with a “clarification.”
During a Sunday panel discussion, Kurtz reacted to Washington Examiner editor Sarah Bedford’s claim that “the left does have a radicalization problem” and that while “there is violent extremism on both sides, it is not proportionate.”
Kurtz, however, made a point of noting some of Kirk’s past comments.
“I’m glad you mentioned that it’s not unique to one side or one party,” he told Bedford. “Charlie Kirk was not a saint. He said two years ago, ‘it’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so we can have the Second Amendment.’”
Adding that he wasn’t trying to say that Kirk or anyone else “has a perfect record,” Kurtz said that the Turning Point USA founder’s murder “makes this feel like a very dangerous time” while slamming the “sickos” who have been celebrating the 31-year-old’s assassination on a Utah college campus last week.
Kurtz’s comments sparked immediate backlash from conservatives.
“I could not be happier this pathetic, weak little man’s show got canceled,” one account posted on X, prompting another conservative to share that post with the caption: “Leave it to Howie Kurtz.”
Gutfeld quoted that tweet with his own taunt of his colleague. “[M]aybe we can tune in next week for a clarification....oh wait…,” he wrote on Sunday afternoon.
Fox News announced on September 10 that MediaBuzz was being canceled after 12 years, despite it being the last remaining media analysis show on cable news. Kurtz, who hosted the show since its debut, will remain with Fox News as a political media analyst and continue to host his podcast. Kurtz had joined Fox in 2013 after hosting CNN’s media program, Reliable Sources, for 15 years. That show eventually came to an end in 2022.
Kurtz’s comments about Kirk not being a “saint” don’t appear to have caused any issues with Fox News management, however, as he made an appearance on-air Monday morning. In recent days, a number of media personalities have lost their jobs over their criticism of Kirk and his rhetoric in the wake of his assassination.
MediaBuzz will be replaced byThe Sunday Briefing, an hour-long show hosted by White House correspondents Peter Doocy and Jacqui Heinrich. The program will debut next Sunday.
During his final broadcast, Kurtz said he enjoyed being regularly seen as both too complimentary of Trump and fervently anti-MAGA, “often for the same comments.”
He added that “so much television today is about picking a team and denigrating anyone with opposing opinions,” suggesting that MediaBuzz served as an antidote to that.
Trump, who sat down with Kurtz for an at-times combative interview just before the 2024 election, made it clear in recent months that he was not a fan of the Fox News media critic. In May, the president groused on Truth Social that Kurtz wasn’t doing a good enough job defending him amid the Signalgate controversy, and ouster of national security adviser Mike Waltz.
“It is time for Howie Kurtz to retire!” Trump fumed. “Every Woke Anchor in the Business, people that no one watched from CNN, MSDNC, and others, are plastered all over his show, with all really negative and fake statements, and then I am weakly ‘defended’ by Howie and his group (although Ben Domenech has been strong!). The case Howie makes for me is so pathetic that it would be a lot better if he didn’t say anything. Anyway, that’s the way it is!”
As for Gutfeld, the conservative cable giant’s resident “comedian” has made it something of a habit to dunk on his current and former colleagues, especially when their views run counter to the network’s right-wing orthodoxy.
Prior to Chris Wallace leaving the network in 2021 for CNN, Gutfeld slammed him for his performance as a presidential debate moderator and for praising Joe Biden’s inaugural address. Following Wallace’s departure, Gutfeld gleefully mocked his old cohort after the sudden collapse of the CNN+ streaming service, which featured a program hosted by the veteran host.
Gutfeld – who has been a co-host of Fox News’ most-watched show The Five since its premiere – has been accused of pushing out several panelists over personal and ideological disagreements.
After Juan Williams announced in 2021 that he was leaving as the show’s lone liberal co-host, sources at the time said that Gutfeld’s regular run-ins with him, both on and off air, were a major driver behind the exit.
Two years later, Geraldo Rivera strongly hinted that his “toxic relationship” with Gutfeld had led to his being fired from the show and ultimately resulted in his leaving the network after more than 20 years. Rivera is now a contributor for the centrist cable news channel, NewsNation.
