A group of employees at Fox Corp. has condemned the Fox News Channel over its “hateful” anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, calling it a “step backward in the acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community.”
Last week, Fox Pride posted a message on the group’s company-wide Slack channel addressing recent comments made by Fox News hosts and guests on some LGBTQ issues.
Fox Pride — a resource group for Fox LGBTQ+ employees and their allies across all of its brands, including Fox News and Fox Weather — “denounces statements made regarding sexual orientation and gender identity on Fox News in the past week,” the message reads in part.
The message was shared on the group’s Slack channel on April 5, according to the Daily Beast.
About a week before that, a report by the progressive media watchdog group Media Matters for America found that the conservative cable news network was “laser-focused” on stories about Disney’s response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” legislation
The bill, slammed as “hateful” by critics, forbids discussions about gender identity and sexual orientation in primary schools’ classrooms, and it was signed into law by the state’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, on March 28.
Disney, after weeks of inaction, apologized for not publicly taking sides at first, and vowed to work to repeal the legislation.
According to Media Matters, from March 28 until April 1, Fox News mentioned “Disney” over 350 times, dedicating over three hours of coverage and at least 53 segments about the company’s response.
Fox News prime-time host Tucker Carlson suggested that Disney supported the “chemical castration” of children, while Laura Ingraham suggested that Disney was “grooming” children, according to the watchdog group. Fox News contributor Sean Duffy claimed that Disney wanted to “sexualize our children” and make films “that will indoctrinate” kids.
According to Fox Pride, Fox Corp. treats its LGBTQ employees with respect, but the image portrayed by Fox News paints a different picture.
“While the internal support and resources Fox Corp. offers to LGBTQ+ employees are amazing and supportive, the public-facing messaging and rhetoric is the opposite,” the group wrote on Slack.
“We find it disheartening and a step backward in the acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community,” the group added.
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