Fox News has fired Bob Beckel, a co-host of its prime-time program “The Five,” saying he made an insensitive remark to a black employee.
The off-air exchange happened Tuesday night, the company said, and was brought to the attention of Fox News’ human resources department. An investigation was conducted and Beckel was informed of his termination on Friday, the company said.
A Fox News representative did not disclose what Beckel said to the employee who filed the complaint.
Fox News currently faces a number of racial discrimination complaints. In March, two black employees filed a racial discrimination suit against the company, alleging that Judy Slater, the controller for the accounting department for 18 years, regularly made racist and inappropriate comments to her black employees. Slater was fired Feb. 28.
The company has also confronted a barrage of complaints over its treatment of women. The 21st Century Fox unit has either settled or litigated a number of sexual harassment cases lodged against its executives, including its ousted chief Roger Ailes, who died Thursday.
Beckel, a former Democratic media consultant who was a left-wing voice on “The Five,” had to apologize to viewers in 2014 for using a slur on-air to describe Chinese people during a commentary concerning what he said was the threat posed by China to the national security of the U.S.
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