Fox News Blames Obama For Jay Leno Getting The Boot From The Tonight Show

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With all of the critical issues facing our country today, Fox News thinks that President Obama took the time to get Jay Leno booted as host of the Tonight Show.

Here is the video via Media Matters:

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After a clip of one of Leno’s monologue jokes about Obama, Fox and Friends’ Brian Kilmeade said, “I just wonder is that part of the reason that Jimmy Fallon’s in and Jay Leno’s out. Because he doesn’t care. He’s the only guy taking shots at the president and this administration, and they’re funny.”

Steve Doocy jumped in with, “Well, of course, it is the second term. Where were the jokes the first term? Not so much.” Kilmeade responded with, “I thought he had a few of them.” Doocy, who is now heavily engaged in what passes for intense debate on Fox and Friends concluded, “Not so many.”

The Fox News narrative on Leno leaving the Tonight Show is that the host went rogue, and since the president is obviously sensitive to the jokes of late night comedians, NBC gave the longtime host the boot. This Fox fantasy also plays into the conservative delusion that every other media organization, but Fox News is pro-Obama and under the president’s control.

I can just see Obama flipping from late night show to late night show evaluating all of the comedians jokes about him. Leno went too far with a years old joke referencing Solyndra, so Obama picked up the phone and told NBC that he had to go.

None of what Fox News is selling matches up with reality in any way, shape, or form. The true story is that Leno is being forced out because after ABC moved Jimmy Kimmel to 11:30, NBC worried about losing younger viewers. Bumping Fallon up to 11:30 is their way of both countering the Kimmel move, and ridding themselves of Jay Leno’s $15 million per year contract.

This is another example of the fact that Fox News can’t decide which Barack Obama they are demonizing. On some days Obama is an incompetent liberal who is ruining the country with socialism. On days like today, he is a tyrant who rules the media with an iron fist.

Like any good cult, Fox tries to keep their flock blind to the realities of the outside world. The message Fox and Friends was sending to their viewers is that Fox News is the only network that they can trust.

They point to Jay Leno leaving the Tonight Show as proof that Obama runs the media.

Their believers respond by nodding in agreement, and thanking God for a network that tells “the truth” like Fox News.

The end result is that millions of Americans end up buying propaganda, and being less informed.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association