Fox News host Laura Ingraham got reminded of the network’s repeated fearmongering and sexual harassment scandals during an interview with author Steve Almond on Wednesday evening.
Almond, who wrote Against Football: One Fan’s Reluctant Manifesto had been invited to discuss the issue of safety in sports after the tragic collapse of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin on Monday evening during a game between the Bills and Cincinnati Bengals.
But, as Mediaite reports, Almond came loaded with facts and wasn’t shy about using them.
“What do you want?” Ingraham asked the author. “I’ve seen stampedes at soccer games, major fights at hockey games. I’ve seen fights at cricket competitions. What do you want? I’m not getting it.”
Almond said the league needs a financial “incentive” to make the game safer. He proposed weight limits for players so they “aren’t bulking themselves up on unnatural weights.” He then suggested monitors on helmets look for hard hits that might otherwise go unnoticed.
He also argued the NFL has a “PR problem” he said was not unlike that of Ingraham’s network.
“It’s like at Fox News when you have hosts who are allegedly sexually harassing people,” he said. “Fox News throws money at that to make that PR problem go away.”
Clearly taken aback by Almond’s remarks, Ingraham tried to recover:
“That’s a cute little move. I’m trying to get you to answer a question.”
Almond was ready for that, too:
“I’m focused on the fans and what I believe is not that any government ban is going to make football safer, and not some mythic woke mob that you mentioned to try to scare your viewers.”
Ingraham:
Football is “not about politics. You’re making it about politics.”
The author continued to slam Fox:
“That’s your entire economic model. That’s to scare your viewers. That’s your whole gig.”
Almond then reminded Ingraham of her own bad actions:
“A couple of years when you taunted a survivor of the Parkland mass shooting, you apologized only because advertisers withdrew from your show.”
At that point, Ingraham abruptly ended the discussion by remarking:
“Nice try, buddy,. That’s what they always do.”
Here’s the video. Enjoy!