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Fox News Host Axed After Trump Called for Him to Retire

Donald Trump called for “Media Buzz” host Howard Kurtz’s retirement in May, saying he wasn’t defending him strongly enough.

Fox News is axing MediaBuzz and ending Howard Kurtz’s 12-year run as host of the Sunday morning media affairs show—just months after President Donald Trump publicly called for his retirement.

The network will replace MediaBuzz with The Sunday Briefing, a new program hosted by Washington correspondents Jacqui Heinrich and Peter Doocy, airing Sundays at 11 a.m., Variety reported.

Kurtz, 71, will remain a Fox News contributor, and the former Daily Beast columnist will likely continue his podcast for the network that focuses on media-industry movements, according to the outlet.

“I’m extraordinarily proud of the program, which was number one for over 12 years and built a loyal audience that liked our down-the-middle approach of contrasting viewpoints and tackling sensitive subjects, with great independence, but time marches on,” the media veteran wrote in a statement to Variety.

The show’s cancellation marks the end of media criticism programming on any major national TV news network, following CNN’s scrapping of Reliable Sources in 2022.

But the axing also follows a furious Truth Social tirade from the president in May, where he stated that the longtime MediaBuzz host did not defend him with enough conviction.

“It is time for Howie Kurtz to retire!” Trump wrote, following a MediaBuzz panel where commentators clashed over the ousting of his then-national security adviser Mike Waltz.

“Every Woke Anchor in the Business, people that no one watched from CNN, MSDNC, and others, are plastered all over his show, with all really negative and fake statements, and then I am weakly ‘defended’ by Howie and his group (although Ben Domenech has been strong!)”

Trump added: “The case Howie makes for me is so pathetic that it would be a lot better if he didn’t say anything. Anyway, that’s the way it is!”

Kurtz then faced the tribunal of Trump loyalists accusing him of betrayal. Defending himself on X, the veteran journalist wrote: “Lotta trolls out today. I’ve known President Trump for 35 years, and if I hated him he wouldn’t keep giving me interviews. Some people not interested in fairness.”

Kurtz continued to deliver his “fair” but sometimes brutal assessments of the president. Last month, he criticized President Donald Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying “it was clear not much was accomplished.”

The Daily Beast has reached out to Fox News for comment.

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Laura EspositoBreaking News Reporter

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