Fox News the network’s controversial chiron said this week, referring to President Joe Biden as “a would-be dictator,” which aired as part of his Tuesday, June 13 audience show.
“The Chiron was immediately dismantled and addressed,” a Fox News spokesperson said in a statement CNN. The network also reportedly “took steps to address the situation internally,” according to the rep. No other details were provided.
On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump was arrested and pleaded not guilty to 37 felony charges related to the handling of classified documents. Fox News then aired Trump’s speech following his impeachment, while other networks (such as CNN and MSNBC) not a. The aforementioned Chiron, which read in full “Wannabe Dictator Speaks at the White House After A Have Political His Arrested Rival,” appeared on screen alongside a split of President Biden and Trump. This happened during Fox News tonight (with guest host Brian Kilmeade), which now sits at 8/7c after Fox News fired Tucker Carlson in April.
The only White House comment so far about chiron has come from press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who said: “There are probably 787 million things I can say … about what I saw last night. But I don’t think I’m going to get into it.”
Biden and the White House have said he is not involved in the Justice Department’s investigations, which operate separately from White House influence. A special counsel is working on the case against Trump, with Justice Department allegations including that Trump had classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.
In recent months, Fox News has lost advertisers, been in the news for defamation lawsuits with Dominion Voting Systems (which led to a settlement) and Smartmatic (which is ongoing), and is facing right-wing competition from the side of other stations like OAN and Newsmax.