Too Close to Trump? Fox News Won’t Run Ad for Oscar-Nominated Anti-Nazi Documentary

The Trump-fluffing by Fox News has been going on for three years now. It hardly seems like news to point out new instances of their blatant bias and propaganda. But every now and then they achieve new lows of sycophantic sucking up that require special attention. And on Wednesday they had just such an achievement.

Donald Trump

A documentary about Nazis in America in 1939 has been nominated for an Oscar in the Documentary Short category.. It’s called “A Night at the Garden,” and tells the story of a rally in New York City by supporters of fascism. It’s a revealing, albeit disturbing, moment of truth from America’s past. And it’s something that all Americans should be aware of. To that end, the producers sought to run an ad for the film (video below) on fox News, but ran into an obstacle. According to the Hollywood Reporter

“Fox News has rejected a national advertising buy for a 30-second spot that warns viewers about the potential dangers of American fascism after an ad sales representative said network leadership deemed it inappropriate, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.”

“The spot doubles as a promotion of this year’s Oscar-nominated documentary short A Night at the Garden, which recounts a 1939 Nazi rally in New York City, and a warning — ‘It Can Happen Here’ – to Hannity’s largely conservative viewers about the potential dangers of President Donald Trump’s brand of populism.”

So Fox News doesn’t think this ad is “appropriate” for their network? You have to wonder what about this ad they considered inappropriate. It is almost entirely historical footage of the Manhattan rally. It never says anything political, other than the closing tag line that “It can happen here.” It doesn’t mention Donald Trump or any political party.

The only plausible explanation for rejecting this ad is that Fox News simply considered it too close to the sort of fascism that is recognizable in Trump’s rhetoric and demeanor. Without any direct or indirect references to Trump, Fox made this association on their own and decided to ban the ad for fear of shocking the tender sensitivities of Sean Hannity’s Trump worshipping audience.

While Fox News considered this ad inappropriate for their air, they didn’t feel the same way last year about an ad by Trump that literally accused Democrats of being responsible for every crime committed in the U.S. by undocumented immigrants. It had a truly fascist tone in saying that “Democrats who stand in our way will be complicit in every murder committed by illegal immigrants.” In addition to that disgusting attack, the ad was a flamingly racist assault on all Latino immigrants. But Fox news aired it anyway, until the public backlash caused them to reverse course.

In rejecting the documentary ad, a statement was released by Fox’s ad sales group that was troubling all by itself:

“A Fox News national ad sales representative told the distributor’s media-buying agency on Wednesday that CEO Suzanne Scott (“our CEO”) said the ad was ‘not appropriate for our air,’ according to email correspondence viewed by THR.”

Imagine that. The Fox News CEO actually stepped in to make sure the ad would not air. That’s highly unusual. Executives at that level rarely make decisions about advertising content. This shows how determined the network is to shield Trump from any potentially negative fallout.

Even though the ad doesn’t allude to Trump in any way, the top brass at Fox still made that association and nixed the ad. And in doing so they actually affirmed their own fears by acting like the fascists they are striving to disassociate themselves from. Good work, Fox.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

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One thought on “Too Close to Trump? Fox News Won’t Run Ad for Oscar-Nominated Anti-Nazi Documentary

  1. Doesn’t Tucker Carlson need advertisers? This spot is perfect for his show, except it would probably be viewed by Carlson’s viewers as a recruitment video.

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