Media Matters: Stop Promoting Racism on FOX

"Enough is enough:
Stop promoting racism on your network."


On Megyn Kelly's Fox News show, Fox News employee John Stossel defended the right to discriminate based on race. Stossel made the remark in an attempt to defend Kentucky Tea Party candidate Rand Paul who suggested that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was too broad and should not apply to private businesses. Although Rand said he will never support measures to repeal the law, Stossel argued that it should be repealed:

“I’m in total agreement with Rand Paul. You could call it public accommodation, and it is, but it’s a private business. And if a private business wants to say ‘we don’t want any blonde women or mustached guys,’ it ought to be their right.”



In a mass e-mail, Eric Burns, president of Media Matters for America noted: "Stossel didn't just argue for the right to discriminate. He went a step further, suggesting the "public accommodations" section of the Civil Rights Act should be repealed, thus allowing businesses to practice racial discrimination. This is the section of the law that prohibits a lunch counter from refusing to serve African-Americans -- a practice which was commonplace when the law was passed."

Noting a pattern among FOX News personalities, Burns released this statement and corroborating video:

This isn't the first time a Fox personality has treaded the line on race. Fox News operates under the direction of President Roger Ailes, a longtime political operative with a history of race-baiting and racially inflammatory campaign tactics. Glenn Beck, one of Fox's top-rated hosts, has repeatedly called both Barack Obama and Sonia Sotomayor "racists" who dislike white people and white culture, and hosts Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly have also stoked racial insensitivity with on air-comments."



Time to Send a Message to FOX

Stossel is only the latest in a long line of Fox News personalities to divide America along racial lines, Burns said. At some point, he writes, Fox's record of questionable rhetoric on race stops being a question about individual hosts or guests -- and starts to be a question about the whole network.

I agree with Burns and Media Matters for America. Concerned Americans "need to send a message loud and clear -- first to Fox, and if it's unwilling to listen, to the sponsors who support it."

Burns' closing comments is well worth consideration and massive support:

"It's time for Fox News to be held accountable for the racially charged statements and racial insensitivity that it continually allows on the air.

Enough is enough: Stop promoting racism on your network."

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