Fox Business Network has put Trish Regan’s show on indefinite hiatus less than a week after her unhinged coronavirus comments went viral. FBN’s Kennedy show is on hiatus, too. UPDATED with information on the show replacing Regan's.
According to Mediaite, Fox Business issued a statement that the hiatus for both shows is “[d]ue to the demands of the evolving pandemic crisis coverage.” The network says it is “deploying all resources from both shows for staffing needs during critical market hours” and will run “long form programming in prime time for the foreseeable future.”
But it looks a lot as though Regan was yanked for reasons having nothing to do with coronavirus coverage - other than her own bonkers commentary on March 9 suggesting that the coronavirus jitters and attendant stock-market crash were merely a Democratic plot to destroy Donald Trump. Media Matters noted that its staff member’s tweet of the Trish Regan Primetime monologue has been viewed millions of times. Seth Meyers had some fun with it, too, as you can see below.
As NewsHounds' Brian noticed, Bloomberg reported that Regan's show has been replaced by reruns of OBJECTified. That show is described as follows by Deadline: "Hosted by TMZ’s Levin, OBJECTified profiles celebrities and newsmakers, using objects they’ve hung on to over the years." In other words, nothing to do with the coronavirus pandemic. You'd think a cable news conglomerate like Fox would be able to immediately replace Trish Regan with an actual news show at a time like this.
It’s not clear whether there might have been any ulterior motive to suspend the Kennedy show, hosted by Lisa "Kennedy" Montgomery. The ratings did not appear to be great.
But fear not, Trump lovers. I’m sure that whatever new coronavirus programming Fox Business airs, its main focus will be pro-Trump propaganda.
Meanwhile, a fitting farewell for Regan is Meyers’ hilarious skewering below, from the March 11, 2020 Late Night with Seth Meyers. The part about Regan begins at 9:57 but the whole thing is worth a watch.
(H/T reader Eric Jefferson)
(Updated 3/14/20)
(3/15/20 corrections: The date of Regan's commentary was erroneously given as May 9 and the 3/14/20 update originally said 3/14/10)
