OUT IN THE OPEN

Fox News Stars Go After Tomi Lahren for Sexist Jab at Kamala Harris

“Do you have any idea how damaging this is to women who’ve actually been sexually harassed, assaulted or demeaned in the workplace?” one of Lahren’s Fox co-workers tweeted at her.

Several of Tomi Lahren’s Fox News colleagues were upset with her sexist remarks about Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) on Wednesday evening. And they were not afraid to publicly say so.

During the Democratic presidential debate, Lahren, a right-wing firebrand who hosts a Fox Nation show and often appears on Fox News, swiped at Harris for her mid-1990s relationship with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown. 

“Kamala did you fight for ideals or did you sleep your way to the top with Willie Brown?” Lahren wrote.

Lahren was swiftly condemned for invoking Harris’ personal relationship to dismiss the 2020 candidate’s long record in elected office, rising from San Francisco district attorney to California’s attorney general before being elected to the U.S. Senate. 

But while the tweet attracted its share of liberal critics, some of Lahren’s own colleagues at Fox News openly expressed disgust at her comments.

“I am curious to know what you think bringing a woman’s personal/sexual life into this accomplishes,” Fox News libertarian commentator Kat Timpf replied. “Men do that to us enough as it is. I’m honestly asking.”

Fox News contributor Jessica Tarlov, a liberal pundit who often co-hosts daytime talk show Outnumbered, retweeted Timpf’s response to Lahren.

Fellow Fox Nation host Britt McHenry—who recently accused her former co-host Tyrus of sexually harassing her—admonished Lahren for attempting to erase Harris’ professional career.

“Do you have any idea how damaging this is to women who’ve actually been sexually harassed, assaulted or demeaned in the workplace? How much this weakens our own gender, regardless of partisanship,” she wrote. “My goodness.”

In another tweet, an incensed McHenry added: “Slept her way to the top? I’m sorry what law degree do you have? What state bar did you pass?”

And early Thursday morning, Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean also took Lahren to task, writing: “If a male contributor had tweeted this they would probably be suspended with a trip to HR. Pretty disgusting, Tomi. Are clicks and retweets worth demeaning women? Would you do the same to a ‘conservative’ female candidate?”

Privately, other Fox News employees rebuked Lahren’s incendiary remarks. 

One staffer expressed disgust to The Daily Beast, noting that Lahren has previously gotten in hot water for inflammatory statements but remains a prominent fixture at Fox News. “It makes me sick that I work for the same company as Tomi Lahren,” another Fox employee said to CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy.

On Thursday morning, Lahren walked back her comments.

“I apologize for my comment on Kamala’s personal relationship. It was the wrong choice of words. There are many other things to take her to task for and I will stick to those,” she wrote in a statement.

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