This is not the first time Beckel has been let go by the network. After leaving the show in 2015 to recuperate from back surgery, then-Executive Vice President of Programming Bill Shine said, "We tried to work with Bob for months, but we couldn’t hold 'The Five' hostage to one man’s personal issues … He took tremendous advantage of our generosity, empathy and goodwill and we simply came to the end of the road with him."
After a stretch at CNN Beckel was welcomed back to the conservative network in 2017.
Network executives investigated the complaint lodged against Beckel Tuesday morning, deciding to remove Breckel from the show Friday.
Attorney Douglas Windsor is representing the employee who made the complaint against Beckel, along with several other current and former network employees who also claimed racial discrimination at the company.
According to Windsor, after an African American information technology worker came to service Beckel’s computer, he "stormed out of his office” and said that “he was leaving his office because he was black."
Windsor added, "As with our other 22 clients, we intend on holding 21st Century Fox accountable for these actions and will be filing multiple other complaints in other matters next week."
In a statement, Fox News refuted the lawyer’s claims, saying, "As Mr. Wigdor knows, Fox News made the decision to terminate Mr. Beckel after a prompt and thorough investigation. His client raised the complaint to Kevin Lord, EVP Human Resources, on Tuesday evening via email and within 7 minutes Mr. Lord responded and began the investigation. Today, Fox News delivered that message to Mr. Beckel and facilitated an apology from Mr. Beckel to the employee minutes after he was terminated. No one tried to persuade Mr. Wigdor’s client to withdraw his complaint."
This incident comes as the network faces major scrutiny, mostly due to sexual harassment allegations against recently deceased former executive Roger Ailes and popular show host Bill O’Reilly.
