According to the Los Angeles Times, Fox Business host Lou Dobbs, who is a staunch supporter of former President Trump, has been cancelled by Fox Business and will no longer have his show.
Dobbs has consistently been the number one performing show on Fox Business and helped report on alleged voter fraud in the 2020 election.
Fox News has canceled “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” the program hosted by television’s staunchest supporter of Donald Trump and of his assertions of voter fraud in the 2020 election, The Times has learned.
Dobbs’ program, which airs twice nightly at 5 and 7 p.m. Eastern on the Fox Business Network, will have its final airing Friday, according to a Fox News representative who confirmed the cancellation. Starting next week, the program will be called “Fox Business Tonight,” with rotating substitute hosts Jackie DeAngelis and David Asman, who filled in for Dobbs on Friday.
Dobbs, 75, remains under contract at Fox News but he will in all likelihood not appear on the company’s networks again. In addition to his Fox Business Network program, he occasionally turned up on the Fox News Channel as a commentator.
Many sources are speculating that Dobbs’ cancelation is in response to a lawsuit filed by Smartmatic about alleged voter fraud in the 2020 election.
According to NY Times wrtier Michael M. Grynbaum, President Trump has responded.
“Lou Dobbs is and was great. Nobody loves America more than Lou,” Trump said in part.
Read the full statement below:
CNN Business adds this to the story:
But Fox is under enormous legal pressure from a pair of voting technology companies, Smartmatic and Dominion, because Dobbs and other hosts made false claims about the companies while perpetuating Trump’s lies about election fraud.
Smartmatic filed a $2.7 billion lawsuit against Fox on Thursday. The lawsuit also named Dobbs and two other Fox hosts as defendants.
Legal experts have said the case against the conservative cable channel is strong. CNN legal analyst Ellie Honig described it as a “legitimate threat” to Fox and added, “There is real teeth to this.”
The lawsuit accused Dobbs of having been “one of the primary proponents” of a “disinformation campaign” against Smartmatic.
Smartmatic’s lawsuit identified multiple instances in which Dobbs’ program promoted conspiracy theories about the 2020 election results and said that his behavior was “contrary to his public persona” of being a “provider of factual information” to his viewers.
Not only did Dobbs allow guests to defame Smartmatic, the lawsuit said, but he “took the initiative and contributed additional falsehoods to the narrative.”
A Fox spokesperson said in a statement on behalf of the network and its hosts Thursday that it was “proud” of its 2020 election coverage and said it would “vigorously defend this meritless lawsuit in court.”