Fox News anchor Lou Dobbs has been axed after spreading conspiracy theories about widespread electoral fraud in the 2020 election.
Dobbs was fired for his involvement in a $2.7bn defamation lawsuit against the network where he was personally named for promoting baseless conspiracy theories after Donald Trump failed to get reelected.
Voting technology firm Smartmatic has accused Fox, some of its presenters, and attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell of waging a "disinformation campaign" to promote the false belief that the election was in some way stolen from Trump.
A day after the lawsuit was filed, Lou Dobbs Tonight – which was broadcast on Fox Business – was canned.
Per the Independent, Trump released a statement shortly after Dobbs' departure was announced: "Nobody loves America more than Lou. He had a large and loyal following that will be watching closely for his next move, and that following includes me."
He had been the channel's highest-rated host, and fans of Fox News took to social media to react to the development.
Kim Mangone wrote: "It's a great day to know Lou Dobbs won't be on the air tonight."
A second wrote: "I love what @brianstelter said about #LouDobbs today. What's happening to him now isn't 'cancel culture,' it's 'consequence culture.'"
Bryan Behar added: "Whenever I start to get down, I just remind myself that Fox fired Lou Dobbs."
A fourth Twitter user wrote: "Something about Lou Dobbs being booted from Fox makes me feel all warm and happy inside."
Meanwhile, a fifth posted a gif from The Weeknd's 2021 Super Bowl performance that was captioned: "Lou Dobbs trying to find a new job."
Per Indy100, a spokesperson for Fox News Media said that the move to cancel Lou Dobbs Tonight was part of plans to "launch new formats as appropriate post-election".
However, despite this, Dobbs' stand-in had said in his absence that he was simply "vacationing", and during what turned out to be his final broadcast, he told viewers "join us here tomorrow".
Fox is now defending its coverage of the US election and move to dismiss the lawsuit brought against the channel.
After a letter from Smartmatic had threatened legal action, Fox ran a series of news packages debunking baseless claims of widespread electoral fraud.