Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) is warning Fox News that if parent company Fox Corp. promotes radical gender theory it could prove “devastating” to the cable news network’s conservative audience.
The warning was prompted by a report from Daily Wire host Matt Walsh posted on Twitter this week, revealing Fox Corp.’s annual “Pride” month campaign. This includes providing sexually explicit literature to Fox News employees and using artificial intelligence to track workers’ commitment to “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI).
“This kind of deliberate alienation of its own audience might not end well for Fox News,” Senator Lee tweeted Thursday night. “But for the fact that there is no other large cable news company in America that is widely known as conservative (or even right of center), this account could prove devastating.”
This kind of deliberate alienation of its own audience might not end well for Fox News. But for the fact that there is no other large cable news company in America that is widely known as conservative (or even right of center), this account could prove devastating. https://t.co/UYuMSaXdY8
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) June 15, 2023
According to a report from the Daily Signal, Fox News employees are being asked to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity rather than biological sex, dress in alignment with their preferred gender, and be addressed by their chosen name and pronouns. Furthermore, the report said Fox News would provide “gender-affirming care” to employees and a source reported high-level executives directed producers of the “Fox News Tonight” show not to bash a trans employee.
Senator Lee, in comments to the Daily Signal, said Fox News has “a lot of good talent and produces much-needed, conservative content,” but if it “turns on its (currently loyal) fan base” by promoting gender theory, “its most avid viewers will go somewhere else, and they will do so quickly, never to return.”
Meanwhile, Walsh pointed to Fox’s use of artificial intelligence to prevent DEI from being “a box-ticking exercise.”
“Fox leadership told employees to sign up for Eskalera so that the AI could help them ‘engage in activities that will deepen’ their ‘understanding of identity and ‘explore more nuanced D&I concepts,’” Walsh said.
It is yet to be seen if Fox News’ conservative audience will follow Senator Lee’s warning and abandon the network, but one thing is for certain: popular opinion won’t be shaped by businesses engaging in gender theory any time soon. As Senator Lee said, “its most avid viewers will go somewhere else, and they will do so quickly, never to return.”