John Gibson’s big story: he’s been cancelled

March 14, 2008

It hasn’t been a good week for conservative hosts of unwatchable cable talk shows with poor ratings. Earlier this week, MSNBC yanked Tucker Carlson off the air. The next day, Fox News gave up on notorious blowhard John Gibson.

Fox News Channel, tinkering for the first time in eight years with its popular early evening lineup, is replacing its 5 p.m. news broadcast, “The Big Story,” with an election-theme program for the foreseeable future. The network confirmed this week that “America’s Election HQ,” a program that displaced “The Big Story” temporarily last month, would continue indefinitely. The program’s hosts, Bill Hemmer and Megyn Kelly, also anchor the network’s mid-morning newscast and are seen as rising stars on the channel. The change was first reported by the blog TVNewser.com.

John Gibson, the longtime host of “The Big Story,” will continue to have a role on television, the network said, although it appears that his future for now lies mostly on radio. For two years Mr. Gibson, a conservative commentator, has been the host of a three-hour program for Fox News Radio immediately following his television show.

I’d always kind of hoped that Gibson would get fired for something he’d said on the air, but if low ratings did the trick, I suppose the end result is the same.

Of course, with Gibson having lost his show, there’s really one thing left to do: mock him relentlessly for years of foolish, hateful demagoguery.

Stephen Colbert got the ball rolling: “There’s obviously only one big lead story tonight: an influential figure who many of us considered a moral leader has let America down and has been forced to leave his post. Of course I speak of Fox News’ John Gibson.”

Media Matters has done a great job for years of highlighting some of Gibson’s more jaw-dropping remarks, but who could forget his insults of Heath Ledger after his death? Or his concerns about “black devils” who “wanna fight the white devil”? Or the time he said John Edwards “whored his wife’s cancer as a fundraising gimmick”? Or his requests to white people to “make more babies“?

But my personal favorite, as long-time readers may recall, was the time he lost it on the air while debating my friend Rob Boston over the “war on Christmas” — and then called Rob at home to threaten him personally.

So long, John. Your departure has done something I hadn’t thought possible — it’s made Fox News’ lineup just a little less offensive.

Gibson is such an unmitigated asshole. Good riddance.

  • I’d always kind of hoped that Gibson would get fired for something he’d said on the air

    Sounds like, ultimately, he’s getting fired for everything he said on the air.

  • I really hope that Bill Hemmer’s star continues to rise, he’s probably the most legitimate anchor there and I have no idea why CNN cut him. The problem with that is, of course, he would legitimize Fox News.

    How come MSNBC never made a play for him?

  • One plus side of being booted for ratings instead of saying something offensive: he can’t play the “victim of the liberal media” card nearly as effectively.

  • One plus side of being booted for ratings instead of saying something offensive: he can’t play the “victim of the liberal media” card nearly as effectively.

    If anyone is dumb enough to make the argument that the general viewing audience is too liberal and should be called out for its bias, it’s John Gibson.

  • Of course, with Gibson having lost his show, there’s really one thing left to do: mock him relentlessly for years of foolish, hateful demagoguery.

    Already? I still have hours and hours left before I’m temporarily done mocking Mark Penn relentlessly. Sure, most of Penn’s stupidity has come in a far shorter period of time, but he also deserves the stake through the heart more. Gibson only preaches to morons who already believe everything he says anyway.

  • If anyone is dumb enough to make the argument that the general viewing audience is too liberal and should be called out for its bias, it’s John Gibson.

    And Fox News, as we all surely know, is a hotbed of rabid liberalism. Come to think of it, John Gibson is exactly like a political prisoner. Free John Gibson!

    As an aside to Ed Stephan, John Gibson is the only person that comes even close to Tucker Carlson in the “I have an overwhelming urge to smack the crap out of that guy” department. What he lacks in Tucker’s smugness, he makes up with sheer, naked stupidity.

  • If I understand correctly, Tucker is going to be replaced with David Gregory.

    While that might seem an improvement, I have to see how Gregory stands up as a pundit day by day. Dave Schuster couldn’t manage it.

    As for Faux Spews, does this really represent an improvement?

  • Mr. CB – We know that you peruse the “conservative” blog sites for your other gigs.
    Please let us know how many you run across that claim the “Liberal Media” was to blame for Gibson’s shows demise.
    I ask for how many, because I am dead certain that there will be some.

    And I was also fortunate enough to never have watched the show. Dang, I was just getting in the mood to watch some race-baiting stupidity. I guess I’ll have to settle for Glen Beck.

  • What neither good taste, an ethical compass nor a sense of shame could accomplish, good old cash money did. At least by the one metric that matters over at Fox, making money, John Gibson is recognized as the loser he is.

    Joining the chorus, here’s hoping that Glenn Beck will make it a trifecta of idiots marching out the door.

  • Something I was never quite clear on….
    How white did you have to be to qualify for more babies according to Gibson…

    As time goes by and we whities foolishly breed with people we find attractive, oblivious to the importance of dermal hue, the number of properly purebred honkies will become so few as to cause genetic defects to accumulate. Think Utah.

    Disclaimer: The Clinton and Obama campaigns denounce and reject these comments. Press releases forthcoming.

  • Calling John Gibson “an asshole” is unfair to all the other assholes out there. Fox brought on Hemmer to get ready for a Democratic Administration.

  • John Gibson always reminded me of Jerry Springer, but without the ethics, brains, or empathy. But I think they’re both part of the anchormanization of America, which is a campaign to show that local anchormen can do other things too; like host a trashy talkshow or act like a bigot. And while their on-air contributions to mankind are considered fleeting at best, at least they showed us what those bland local news guys can do if they were ever allowed to write their own material. And this is in contrast to Bill O’Reilly, who is an example of what an anus would look like if it wrote its own material. Still awaiting that cancellation.

  • Somebody has to say this, and I guess it has to be me:

    Gibson, Fox News found a way to quit you.

    You’re dead.

  • Petorado, if you count Rachel Marsden the Ann Coulter wannabe, loony stalker and frequent crier of “wolf” about sexual harassment, it already is a trifecta. Couldn’t happen to three nicer people.

  • What I find sad is that John Gibson was a decent reporter at one time. I grew up in the Sacramento area in the 80’s, and he was a reporter at the local NBC affiliate where he did a decent job. Granted, that was before the Fairness Doctrine was killed, and local TV news back then didn’t let its beat reporters go opining on things in their stories.

    Now? Now I’m just glad he’s gone, although like a bad penny he’ll turn up elsewhere. Plus he still has his radio show, doesn’t he? So he’s still spewing his filth, but he’s less noticeable. At least Olbermann will highlight any asinine thing Gibson says in the future.

  • Luckily, I now live in London, so I’ve not had to see Gibson’s mug on television in 5 years. But I remember catching a broadcast about a year after the twin towers attacks. Watching him, based solely on his physical appearance and body language (how I felt about his comments came later), I instantly disliked him. It’s completely unfair and unsubstantiated, but I kept thinking Gibson just looked like a seedy, child molester. I couldn’t shake it. Again, completely unfair.

    Nevertheless, I’m glad to see him go. Mainly because he said he carries a gas mask around with him when he travels. Anyone who fears terrorists and dying that much simply isn’t worth listening to.

    Well, let’s wish him the best of luck anyway. Even morons deserve life, liberty and happiness.

  • This web page has shown me how low the liberals are. All you do it hate.
    You have freedom of speech but you do not want anyone that thinks different to have it.

    Gibson was wrong about Ledger. If all other networks fired their people for stupid things they say then the tv air waves would be silent.

  • Keith Olberman is a idiot. His show is a joke maybe he should go to a comedy channel and Chris Matthews is a loser too.

  • I don’t get the raves for Bill Hemmer. That guy’s a total lightweight, perfect for molding into a right-wing Fox puppet. CNN did not let him go, he left in a move right out of “Broadcast News.” Remember when empty-headed network correspondent William Hurt had to be told by Albert Brooks that an assignment to the London bureau was not a demotion, it was a promotion so he could be groomed for the anchor chair? The same thing happened with Hemmer. CNN wanted to make him a White House correspondent to help build him up in the way they have Anderson Cooper, and Hemmer turned them down, believing it to be a demotion from the morning news! He left shortly thereafter for Fox. Good riddance to the “mimbo,” I was not surprised in the least the he lacked the integrity to reject a career at F News.

  • Re: John Gibson … my girlfriend has always called him Max Headroom. Note the resemblance! Coincidentally, they both lack brains.

  • To all you low life liberals out there….You should be proud that this great country has FOX NEWS so the truth can be told and even prouder that we have GEORGE W BUSH as our President..

  • I can not believe Chris Matthews has a job anywhere.He should have been fired years ago.

  • @TruthandConsequences: Haha, that’s freakin’ hilarious. I never heard of this John Gibson before seeing tonight’s Colbert Report, but the first thing that came to my mind — and I said this immediately to my wife — is that HIS HAIR LOOKS LIKE MAX HEADROOM! Good lord. Well, to be fair to Mr. Headroom, he *does* have brains… at least he’s a computer AI.

  • John Gibson’s remarks regarding Heath Ledger were inexcusable. Heath Ledger had more elegance and grace than Mr. Gibson can ever hope to have. Gibson should have been fired immediately after, if not during the abhorrent remarks he made. I would like to see Rush Limbaugh and Jphn Gibson sail off into the sunset together. Yuck. Now, there’s a gross image.

  • As far as john gibson is concerned he was always getting the bad wrap because he was semi-opinionated, but so is bill schnieder and wolf blitzer anderson cooper, we can throw in a bunch more. I am not crying a river he’s gone, I really don’t care. I did find the show hillarious and made me laugh alot. The world can always use laughter, he was always getting harassed by other news media anchors. Lighten up, obviously all you had to do the whole time you was ranting about how shitty john gibson is was turn off the channel. In the end it’s all we can do. Stop bitchen turn off the tube. We all can name some people we can’t stand to see on the news. Infact use the web, and get your own news, no stinky, dumb joke telling anchors. Who are they going after next glenn beck and o’reily?

  • Check your facts his ratings were still higher than CNN’s “Situation Room”. “The Big Story” had 1,079,000 viewers, in the mean time “The Situation Room” at 5 p.m. had only 773,000. Its an election year, they wanted and election themed show for that hour. Gibson will be back and you will be sad. Check your facts next time before you start boasting.

  • Is this site typical of how liberals think i.e. everyone who does not agree with the liberal world view is a “moron” “a-hole” “stupid” “Max Headroom” “robots” “bigoted” “whities” “hateful demagogues” etc.. Nice people like you believe in aborting babies/save the whales, marriage for everyone (including horses), state schools to brainwash kids with the latest geeky ideas on global cooling/warming, God is an alien, creation is a myth/evolution is a proven fact (‘cos I saw it with my own eyes), save the red bellied frog/don’t worry about the guy who has no job now. Yea, you’all are a bunch of geniuses. legends in your own minds. Well, now you’re gonna have a friend. And he’s gonna be your next president. Oh, thank you, thank you. Get ready for rationing, gas lines, double digit inflation, nuclear explosions in our cities, and other liberal cures.

  • You are about to see if Obama is elected, Jimmy Carter’s second term. You say evolution is a proven fact, that man evolved from monkeys, then how come there are still monkeys?
    I hope you enjoy the hugh increase in taxes, the only thing the liberals love besides themselves. I feel sorry for the generation coming up what life is going to be like for them. a socialist government and eventually a dictatorship. May GOD bless our survivors.

  • I liked John Gibson and am really upset FOX let him go. He was a very decent guy and he told it like it was. Nobody wants to hear the truth anymore. I suppose nobody on this blog cares for good news. This is the MTV crowd.

  • I miss John Gibson tremendously. He told it like it was. He did not mince words
    The only problem with his show was when that IDIOT Heather Nauert came into the picture. She is so inept it is pathetic. She took away his credibility, by her child-like manner and down-right stupid comments, always cutting in and leaning in towards him trying to get into camera angle. I cannot understand whn FOX News still has this woman on the payroll. There are so many other female news reporters with Fox News who are FAR SUPERIOR to NAUERT. Where is Lori Dhue…..she is an excellent news reporter and host as well. There is no comparison between the two.

    I actually switch channels when Nauert turns up on any show as a fill-in.

    Bring JOHN GIBSON back to his 5:00PM slot and get rid of NAUERT completely.
    She is a mere amateur.

    Bea Dove

  • I had often wondered why John Gibson was n longer on Fox,,now to find out that he has been replaced by the two creme puffs is sad beyond all.Slowly but surely fox news is becoming just another advertising channel like the weather channel,,,only showing and saying what the worldies want to hear,,how sad,,

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