Coverage of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy, which has resulted in separations of undocumented parents and their children, is ramping up in America, and conservative outlet Fox News’ coverage of the policy has come under fire by several celebrities who have been affiliated with the network.
Modern Family co-creator Steve Levitan and creator of Family Guy and American Dad! Seth MacFarlane said they were disgusted and embarrassed to work for a company affiliated with Fox News, which is a subsidiary of 21st Century Fox, following Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham’s recent remarks about border separations on the network.
Carlson told Fox News viewers on Thursday night to assume that anything his rivals on the larger news networks say is wrong. MacFarlane said Carlson’s remarks were a call to “blindly obey Fox News.”
Ingraham said on Monday evening’s The Ingraham Angle that the child detention centers are “essentially summer camps [or] boarding schools.” Levitan said this is the opposite of what Modern Family stands for, and later responded to Ann Coulter calling the migrant children “actors,” saying, “This folks, is the face of pure evil.”
Https://twitter.com/SethMacFarlane/status/1008078997429710848
This, folks, is the face of pure evil. Https://t.co/HvArmq7Zi1
— Steve Levitan (@SteveLevitan) June 19, 2018
Let me officially join @SethMacFarlane in saying I’m disgusted to work at a company that has anything whatsoever to do with @FoxNews. This bullshit is the opposite of what #ModernFamily stands for. Https://t.co/dnvIbgoIyA
— Steve Levitan (@SteveLevitan) June 19, 2018
Michael Tammero, the entertainment reporter and senior vice president of Fox News and Fox Business, quoted MacFarlane’s tweet, writing “Yet… NOT quite embarrassed enough to not cash that check … isn’t that right.”
Https://twitter.com/FOXlightMichael/status/1008493340126572544
In response, MacFarlane donated $2 million to NPR and $500,000 to L.A.’s NPR membership station, KPCC, for the Collaborative Journalism Network, which works to connect NPR journalists and combat “news deserts” in America.
Hollywood producer Judd Apatow, who had worked with Fox in the past, also lashed out at the Murdoch family, who control Fox assets, on Twitter, saying, “That family promotes evil ideas and greed and corruption.” Apatow then called for the powerful people working for Fox to “speak up to their bosses.”
I haven’t worked with Fox since 2002. That family promotes evil ideas and greed and corruption. We all choose who to work with. I understand why that is easier for some than others but many powerful people are powerful enough to speak up to their bosses at a moment like this. Https://t.co/8NtsqsR8Xj
— Judd Apatow 🇺🇦 (@JuddApatow) June 18, 2018
Producer Ben Wexler, who has worked with Fox on shows The Good Guys and The Grinder, among others, joined in on Tuesday, criticizing Fox News for their coverage of President Trump.
I’m starting to think trump could kill five (not six) million Jews and Fox News would be like “Okay STOP with the Hitler comparisons!!”
— Ben Wexler (@mrbenwexler) June 19, 2018
Paul Feig, who directed movies The Heat and Spy for 20th Century Fox, also added his take on Tuesday, tweeting “I too cannot condone the support their news division promotes toward the immoral and abusive policies and actions taken by this current administration toward immigrant children.”
I have made two films for 20th Century Fox and love the people in the movie and TV divisions. But I too cannot condone the support their news division promotes toward the immoral and abusive policies and actions taken by this current administration toward immigrant children. Https://t.co/6JqIQPjepV
— Paul Feig (@paulfeig) June 19, 2018