Maria Bartiromo & Jeanine Pirro ‘To Be Fired’ From Fox News As Rupert Murdoch Moves To Be Less ‘Vulnerable’ After $787.5 Million Defamation Settlement, Critic Predicts
April 20 2023, Published 9:10 a.m. ET
At least one critic predicts Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro will be fired from Fox News as Rupert Murdoch moves to be less “vulnerable” following the network’s nearly $800 million defamation settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, RadarOnline.com has learned.
In a sudden development to come just two days after Dominion agreed to settle their $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News for $787.5 million, Puck founder and Fox News critic Dylan Byers predicted both Bartiromo and Pirro will be axed from the network.
Byers also indicated that, if the two reporters are not fired from Fox News, Bartiromo and Pirro will be warned to “be careful” regarding risking committing libel in the future.
“So I anticipate one of two things will happen here, or has perhaps already happened: The first possibility is that Fox News C.E.O. Suzanne Scott sits down with Bartiromo and Pirro and anyone else who came up to the line of libel and says, be careful,” Byers said shortly after Fox News and Dominion settled on Tuesday.
“Alternatively, Rupert and Suzanne have already decided to elegantly and eventually show Bartiromo and/or Pirro the door,” he continued.
Byers specifically cited a series of remarks made by Murdoch during his deposition in which the 92-year-old media mogul suggested the network’s commentators – and not the network itself – endorsed false claims the 2020 presidential election was stolen from then-President Donald Trump.
“Not Fox, no. Not Fox. But maybe Lou Dobbs, maybe [Bartiromo] as commentators,” Murdoch reportedly said during his deposition earlier this year. “Some of our commentators were endorsing it.”
“If I’m [Bartiromo], that feels like the kiss of death,” Byers suggested.
“The last thing on earth that Murdoch wants is to leave himself vulnerable to another $787-million headache.”
Dominion’s lawsuit also revealed that 18 of the 20 defamation allegations made by the voting machine company against Fox News specifically cited remarks made by Dobbs, Bartiromo, and Pirro.
Never miss a story — sign up for the RadarOnline.com newsletter to get your daily dose of dope. Daily. Breaking. Celebrity news. All free.
Never Miss an
Daily updates from the heart of Hollywood, right to your inbox
By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you’re agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
While Dobbs was fired from the network in February 2021, Bartiromo and Pirro still remain – and Fox’s lawyers were reportedly preparing to argue that neither Bartiromo nor Pirro committed libel because the pair “actually believed” the voter fraud claims being promoted by Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and Sidney Powell in the wake of the 2020 presidential election.
“If you’re trying to avoid future libel lawsuits, that’s not exactly the kind of person you want on camera,” Byers said regarding the fact that Bartiromo and Pirro believed the false voter fraud claims.
