A guest on Fox News host Laura Ingraham’s show on Wednesday knocked her and the network over several past scandals, including claims of sexual harassment by network stars and even the time Ingraham mocked a school shooting survivor.
In the wake of a frightening incident which saw Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffer a cardiac arrest during Monday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Ingraham spoke to Steve Almond, whose 2015 book Against Football: One Fan’s Reluctant Manifesto argues it’s time to give up the sport.
Almond claimed that the NFL will make the game safer if there is an economic incentive to do so. A public relations problem would qualify, he explained, before drawing a comparison to Ingraham’s employer.
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“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.”
“That’s a cute little move,” Ingraham would say shortly afterward. “I’m trying to get you to answer a question.”
Later, the discussion touched on the intersection of football and events in the political and social justice arena.
“I’m focused on the fans and what I essentially believe, which is not that any government ban is going to make football safer, and certainly not some mythic woke mob that you mentioned to try to scare your viewers,” Almond said.
Ingraham interjected that she is not “trying to scare the viewers,” and that the sport is “not about politics.”
“Oh, I think that’s your entire economic model,” Almond responded. “Your entire economic model is to scare your viewers. That’s your whole gig.”
At the conclusion of the interview, Almond again pointed out that a driving force for change is a financial incentive, and drew a particularly appropriate comparison in the process.
“A couple of years ago when you taunted a survivor of the Parkland mass shooting, you apologized only because advertisers withdrew from your show,” Almond said before his feed and mic were cut off.
Ingraham responded by belittling her guest: “Nice try, little buddy,” she said. “This is what they always do.”
