Newsmax employees were recently informed they would need to provide proof of vaccination to attend the network’s New York City holiday party on Wednesday night, as both the city and the swanky Plaza Hotel location required it. This meant that one of the pro-Trump channel’s biggest stars, primetime host Grant Stinchfield, could not be in attendance. “Everyone was talking about why Stinchfield wasn’t there,” a source at the party told gossip site Page Six.
Stinchfield, who has regularly blasted vaccine mandates on the air, posted an angry selfie video on Twitter of himself on Wednesday night wandering the streets of New York. Complaining that he’d just been kicked out of a Midtown bar because he’s unvaccinated, Stinchfield growled that the city was an “absolute shithole” that’s made “second-class citizens” out of those who’ve refused the jab.
Page Six reported that while Stinchfield was absent, other top Newsmax stars such as Sean Spicer, Greg Kelly, and Eric Bolling were in attendance, along with network CEO Chris Ruddy. In recent weeks, the network—which has a vaccine policy similar to the Biden administration’s large employer requirements—has parted ways with former Trump adviser Steve Cortes and conspiratorial reporter Emerald Robinson, both of whom had publicly railed against vaccines.
Newsmax did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
