The Murdoch family-controlled media conglomerate that has long thrived as a big tent that includes subversive entertainment shows such as “Family Guy” and conservative viewpoints of news commentators such as Sean Hannity is being pulled apart by partisan politics in the age of President Trump.
“Modern Family” co-creator Steve Levitan shook the entertainment industry Tuesday with an announcement on Twitter that he would leave Fox’s TV studio, citing his personal disgust with Fox News as the reason. He quickly revised his statement, saying he would make his decision after 21st Century Fox completes the pending sale of its movie and TV studio assets to either Walt Disney Co. or Comcast, which are now in a bidding war for them.
Levitan joined other Fox studio talent — director Paul Feig and “Family Guy” creator and star Seth MacFarlane — in openly expressing disdain for Fox News, an extraordinary rebuke. Though shows such as “The Simpsons” occasionally lampoon Fox News, high-profile creative producers within the company have rarely publicly criticized the news operation so harshly.
Levitan and others were responding to how the channel’s hosts and commentators defended the Trump administration’s decision to separate and detain children who cross the border illegally with their parents — a policy widely deplored by both Republicans and Democrats. Fox News host Laura Ingraham has described the detention centers for children along the Mexican border as summer camps.
“The Hollywood creative community in general has been barely tolerant of the Fox News channel, particularly over the last couple of years,” said Sandy Grushow, who was a Fox entertainment executive for 20 years.
Representatives of Fox News and 21st Century Fox declined to comment on the remarks from Levitan, MacFarlane and Feig.
The issue of immigration enforcement at the border has brought the discontent to a boiling point. “I have made two films for 20th Century Fox and love the people in the movie and TV divisions. But I too cannot condone the support their news division promotes toward the immoral…
