The other day, I covered Seth MacFarlane’s tweet about how he was and is “embarrassed” to work for Fox, which is part of the same corporation which owns Fox News. Artists who work for Fox these days are particularly upset, given that Fox News is the propaganda network for a fascist dictator who throws small children and babies into cages. Seth has a long-standing and lucrative deal with Fox, and I don’t see him leaving the network anytime soon. But it was nice to hear him air some grievances. Who knew that it would be the start of something interesting though?
First, Steve Levitan tweeted his agreement with Seth’s tweet, then Levitan added this:
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
Levitan is the creator/producer on Modern Family, which airs on ABC but was produced and developed by Fox, and it shoots on the Fox lot. Fox makes money off of Modern Family, and Levitan is technically in business with Fox. After that tweet, which made Levitan sound like he was about to pull Modern Family out of Fox, he tweeted this:
“Fox Studio has been a wonderful home for most of my career – so many amazing people there who share the concerns about @FoxNews but aren’t in the position to speak out. I have no problem with fact-based conservatism (such as WSJ), but @FoxNew’s 23-hour-a-day support of the NRA, conspiracy theories and Trump’s lies gets harder to swallow every day as I drive onto that lot to make a show about inclusion. I look forward to seeing #ModernFamily through to the end and then, sale or no sale, setting up shop elsewhere.
Which is sort of a cop-out, but it’s also realistic: he’s under contract too. And he would be sued into oblivion if he tried to disentangle Modern Family from Fox, especially since this next season is likely to be MF’s last. That being said, Levitan isn’t exactly a profile in courage. But other people are trying, like Paul Feig:
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
Judd Apatow was also tweeting a lot about all of this, and what kind of responsibility artists should have while working for Fox Entertainment – go here to read some of Judd’s thoughts.
So what do you think? I’ve never flat-out blamed the artists who work for or with Fox, quite honestly. Maybe I would feel differently if it felt like the Murdochs were super-involved with their entertainment divisions, but as I said in the MacFarlane post, the Murdochs only care about their “news” divisions, print and television. They’ve always given Fox Entertainment free rein to do whatever. To make the Nazi comparison, it’s not like artists working for Fox are working for the Nazis. The artists are working for a subcontractor who is in business with the Nazi propaganda machine. It’s still problematic AF, but let’s be real: other entertainment corporations have huge political issues too.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Yeah when He’ll freezes over – the employees are Fox and represents Fox’s views. They feel exactly the same way as those deplorables..
No, they don’t. If they did, explain all the donations to Hillary’s campaign and progressive causes. That’s absurd. A Deplorable would not make a show about a happy and healthy gay family.
Levitan is blowing smoke. While he may be liberal and against Faux like the rest of us, MF already announced that this season (10) will be the last season. So it’s not like there’s much loss there. Contractually, I don’t think he can do anything. I would be VERY surprised if he’d try and break the contract. Legally, unless there’d be some mega-million $$ payout, I don’t think he could.
I don’t know how you can watch something like Modern Family or Family Guy and think those writers/directors/et al share Fox News’ views.
So creators of shows on FX, like Donald Glover, are presenting the same views as those expressed on Fox News?
That’s unfairly lumping people together. Unless you know ALL of the employees that work for a company and know for a fact that they all have the same views, you can’t say that. That’s like saying ALL white people are this, or ALL black people are that. You must never have seen these shows
You seem to generalize a lot. They are money whores, but that doesn’t mean their ideologies line up with their “news”/propaganda.
If they can? Probably?
Did you see that Seth McFarlane donated $2.5 million to NPR? I thought that was an elegant way to stick it to Fox- use their money to fund a legitimate, mostly-unbiased news source.
Yes that was perfect! He didn’t donate it to a candidate, or to a political group – he donated it to the exact opposite of Fox News – NPR.
Oh that’s amazing! And exactly the right move
Faux news has been spewing lies and hate since their first day on the air..they are no different now than when these folks signed up and cashed the big checks..so why the sudden pangs of conscience?
Because it has FINALLY led to this. It’s not like this all just started with Trump. Mass incarceration predates Trump. The Iraq war predates Trump. The Recession predates Trump. The Iraq War predates Trump. All of those things have led to this, and been enabled by Fox News. It is a propaganda channel.
It is acknowledged in philosophy that although free speech is necessary to guarantee rational democratic deliberation, it also contains the seeds of its own destruction, because it allows for propaganda, which is key to the ride of demo gauges and dictators.
We can’t rely on the law to make the channel illegal. However, it is possible to drive it out of business.
Shows currently in production? Carry on. But should they do new business with Fox? I would think it would be cause for pause.
i agree. It is just not the famous actors or show runners, a lot of salaries depend on the work.
But once you start a new project and you are in a position to look somewhere else – yes. The powers that be obviously are not having any problem with all the hate and lies that are being spewed on their channel. They have to face consequences. The only thing people care about is money, so once their bottomline is affected they might rethink.
I agree, there are contracts in place and it can’t be so easy to just walk away. These are also people with families, bills, mortgages to, and a lot of employees working under them. But I would hope if they are in a position of power with connections, they use that to push for change.
And I agree no one should be seeking them out for new business right now. Money talks, it’s going to be the only way to get the Fox corporation to change.
As a Canadian observer, I have to say that while all voices of resistance here are going to be helpful, what you really need is legislative resistance and stronger electable leadership from the Democrats.
You’re in the midst of a cultural civil war and even change of presidential leadership won’t fix that. All minorities are in danger. I feel you.
When they come to arrest all the colluders in Trump’s family and administration, I’m going to have as much empathy as they do for the child victims of their BS.
“…what you really need is legislative resistance and stronger electable leadership from the Democrats.”
THIS!!! I truly hope the Dems can pull it off. I thought the less evil (Hillary) would be enough to beat Trump, but oh my, how wrong we were about that one! Can’t take any chances next time.
I mean, yes. This is a propaganda channel that is driving the base to become even more ignorant and hateful. Shit is getting serious. We can’t just rely on the blue wave. Even if the Dems control the house, we have a LOT of shit to walk back, and Fox would very much turn that walk into baby steps. This shit is serious.
My understanding is that 20th Century Fox and 21st Century Fox, which are the divisions that produce movies and tv shows, are in the process of being sold to Disney, ( or possibly Comcast) while Fox News will remain under Murcoch’s control. If the deal goes through, they won’t even be owned by the same company anymore.
So at this point, I’m not sure if Fox artists quitting their jobs is necessary. One could argue that Fox News has always been trash, and they could have thought about that before they signed on to their projects.
Yes. No caveats. At least for the ones directly related to the Fox News section of the company.
I don’t care about your finances. I don’t care about the impact on your family. I don’t care. There are some things more important than money, more important than job references, and definitely more important than party politics. The moment you realize you’re working for a channel whose propaganda includes mocking children removed from parents and thrown into literal prison detention centers and then trying to claim they’re “summer camps,” you should’ve had your resignation on the desk. It’s a detriment to your character that you’re even supporting a propaganda channel at this point, but now, it’s become abundantly clear that you are complicit in the support of America’s 21st century neo-Nazi regime. Get out now. Don’t make excuses. Do what’s right. Fifty years down the road, nobody will give a shit about why you did it. They’ll just know that you did.
What about that juicy rumor that a cast member from MF was/is having an affair with Tucker Carlson?!? Since facebook got rid of their newsfeed, I spend more time on twitter, I was reading through those tweets and going, “Oh my, is this true?” If so, maybe MF belongs on Fox?
If Julie Bowen is having an affair with Tucker Carlson she needs to be shunned. Tucker is one of the worst people on that network and knows better. He is just craven for money.
The detention centre coverage has been awful, but it says a lot about these people that they had no (serious) problem working for FOX before. FOX and Murdoch have been despicable, misogynist, racists for decades. These powerful creators could have gone elsewhere a long time ago.
True, but what’s your logic here? That they shouldn’t wake up and stop being complicit? That because they’ve been complicit they should continue?
They should acknowledge that fact, then pledge to do better once this particular issue has been remedied.
That is much less important to me than the possibility they can drive the channel off-air through collecting leave-taking.
serious question: do fox news watchers really believe they are getting the news? i am pretty sure they are hearing, seeing, and understanding that this is commentary, based on opinions and perspectives not facts and figures. I don’t think anyone really watches fox for news. they watch it to reinforce their bigotry and hatred, to wallow in the cesspool and think their quagmire is the stuff that life is made of. or am i wrong?
It’s scary, but yes. Fox news watchers are brainwashed and believe what they’re seeing is true and anything else is “fake news “
This.
Deep down, they aren’t actually interested in the “news.” They’re interested in anything that can create a narrated reality where they are the victims of a mass conspiracy rather than acknowledging their own contribution to the state of America.
Fox just accepted Disney’s bid for their entertainment arm, so they’ll be divorced from Fox News and working for Bob Iger now. The cynical part of my brain says people were threatening to quit knowing this was about to happen, but at least they took a public stand.
Not that it makes it any better considering how Disney’s been treating their striking workers.
Why aren’t viewers protesting Fox and Fox movies by not watching?
The only things that seems to influence Faux news are lost income and lawsuits. The public can put more pressure on Fox news advertisers to drop their ads on the network.
Yes, a thousand times yes.
I don’t fault them for staying. But I wish they had cancelled their shows en masse right before the sale went through and driven down the value of Fox studios, money that is now going in large part to the Murdoch family. I would have forgiven every one of them for coming back to Disney-owned Fox in a few weeks.
I don’t expect it, but I do respect it if they make that decision. Same goes for people refusing to design for Melania and Ivanka.