Fox News says in a succinct statement that Chyron calling Biden a “wannabe dictator” who had his “political rival arrested” was live for just 27 seconds — and was “immediately addressed”
- The chyron at the end of Fox News’ 8 p.m. read: “Wannabe dictator speaks at White House after his political rival is arrested”
- The primetime broadcast showed Joe Biden’s speech in Washington DC, side-by-side with Trump’s rally in Bedminster, New Jersey
Fox News issued a terse statement after they aired a chyron calling Joe Biden a “wannabe dictator” who had his “political rival arrested.”
The chyron at the end of Fox News’ 8 p.m. on Tuesday — which aired Trump’s speech following his innocent plea — read: “Wannabe dictator speaks at White House after his political rival is arrested.”
The primetime broadcast showed Joe Biden’s speech in Washington, DC, side-by-side with Trump’s rally in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Now, a Fox News spokesperson has confirmed that the subtitle was “addressed.”
The broadcast showed Joe Biden’s speech in Washington, D.C., side-by-side with Trump’s rally in Bedminster, New Jersey
A spokesperson said: “The chyron was immediately taken down and dealt with.”
When Sean Hannity entered the picture at 9 p.m., the controversial subtitles disappeared.
But the chyron calling Biden a “wannabe dictator” live on Fox News for 27 seconds sparked outrage on social media.
One person said, “Why would a major network news outlet like Fox let a disgruntled conspiracy theorist control the back of the chyron?”
Another person, who shared an image of the broadcast, mocked the news outlet with the caption, “Fair and balanced news.”
A third stated, “I expect Fox to go lower than low, but talk about fanning the flames.”
Others made light of the situation and wrote, “Fox took off the gloves.”
Another claimed, “Oh dear. It seems Fox has forgotten how much they lost in the Dominion case.”
The outrage even reached the White House.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre slammed Fox News for its chyron labeling President Joe Biden a “wannabe dictator.”
Karine Jean-Pierre said: “There’s probably about 787 million things I can say about this that are wrong, but I’m not going to get into it,” during her daily press briefing, referring to the $787 million the news network paid Dominion Voting after the company sued it for gossip.
Asked again if she wanted to comment, Jean-Pierre replied, “I just did.”
The chyron came in the middle of Trump’s defiant speech from his New Jersey golf club, hours after he pleaded not guilty to federal charges — calling it “a political prosecution like something from a fascist or communist nation.”
“I did everything right and they charged me,” he lamented while surrounded by supporters back on his home field after his day with the criminal justice system.
Trump made meandering remarks speaking out against disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner and former FBI Director James Comey — and then went through classified documents from the Bill Clinton administration.
Trump started his remarks by going after Joe Biden, but quickly got confused by talking about Hillary Clinton and former Vice President Dick Cheney.
“Today we witnessed the most vicious and heinous abuse of power in the history of our country,” Trump told a crowd at his Bedminster club on Wednesday night.
He claimed that Biden would go down in history as “the president who, along with a band of his closest thugs, misfits and Marxists, tried to destroy American democracy.”
He pointed to the use of the 1917 Espionage Act to go after him for alleged violations of the willful possession of national security information after the indictment said he possessed nuclear information and claimed to have Pentagon attack plans in Mar-a- Lago and the Bedminster club where he spoke.
Trump called it “one of the most outrageous and vicious legal theories ever advanced in an American court.”