‘SNL’ Cold Open Sees ‘Fox and Friends’ Confuse Rupert Murdoch for Alex Murdaugh

appears to have a “Lou Dobbs problem.” Network attorneys also continued to underscore that real, still-viable concerns about Dominion machines exist.But on Wednesday, Murphy noted that a defamation claim needs to be brought “home to someone who’s directly involved” in decisions about what to publish or air. Davis – who has cautioned everyone not to make too much of his early inquiries – challenged that idea forthrightly:“Is Fox’s position that executives didn’t have the power to stop Lou Dobbs from doing something like that?” Davis asked.Dominion lawyer Justin Nelson seized upon the exchange Tuesday, highlighting an email from Rupert Murdoch expressing concern about the network’s positioning on the election.

is asking $1.6 billion in damages – significant, but not a potential death-blow for the crown jewel of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire – for what it says are defamatory statements about its voting machines in multiple reports, guest segments and host commentary immediately following the 2020 election. Defamation cases hinge on “actual malice,” proof that the defendant intended harm – and Dominion has been pushing hard on that front in it pretrial efforts.Fox has maintained it was merely doing the news, and was protected by its framing of even the wildest election conspiracy theories as allegations and speculation.

Rupert Murdoch just announced that he’s engaged to Ann Lesley Smith, less than a year after finalizing his divorce from model Jerry Hall.

Rupert Murdoch is set to marry for a fifth time after becoming engaged to his girlfriend, Ann Lesley Smith. The 92-year-old joked "it better be" his last engagement after his six-year marriage to fourth wife Jerry Hall ended in divorce last August. Mr Murdoch said he met his 66-year-old girlfriend in September at his vineyard Moraga in Bel Air, California.

Rupert Murdoch is engaged to be married for the fifth time. He announced his engagement to Ann Lesley Smith in an interview published by the New York Post. This just happens eight months after he divorced former model Jerry Hall.

Rupert Murdoch is officially engaged to former police chaplain Ann Lesley Smith.

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is engaged to his new partner Ann Lesley Smith months after divorcing his ex wife Jerry Hall. The 92 year old businessman could be walking down the aisle for the fifth time this summer with his new partner Ann, who is said to be 26 years his junior. Rupert's new fiancée was previously married to country singer and radio and TV executive Chester Smith, who died in 2008.

Rupert Murdoch is engaged once again. The 92-year-old billionaire businessman proposed to former San Francisco police chaplain Ann Lesley Smith, 66, on St.

announced in Monday’s New York Post that he will wed former San Francisco police chaplain Ann Lesley Smith, 66, in a ceremony later this summer. The news comes less than a year after the media mogul’s high-profile divorce from Jerry Hall in June 2022; Smith will become his fifth wife – and per an interview with the Post, Murdoch says “my last.”“We’re both looking forward to spending the second half of our lives together,” he said.

Rupert Murdoch is engaged, again.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Rupert Murdoch just can’t stay single. Less than a year after divorcing Jerry Hall, the 92-year-old Fox mogul is hearing wedding bells again. He’s engaged to Ann Lesley Smith, a 66-year-old San Francisco police chaplain. According to gossip columnist Cindy Adams, who broke the story in the New York Post, Murdoch’s future wife was married to Chester Smith, a country-western singer, as well as a radio and TV executive who died in 2008. Adams reports that the two bonded over their shared knowledge of the media business as well as the fact that she once owned a vineyard and he still does. If they tie the knot, it will be Murdoch’s fifth marriage. Hall, a model and actress, was married to Murdoch for six years. In addition to Hall, Murdoch was previously married to Wendi Deng from 1999 to 2013; Anna Maria Torv from 1967 to 1999; and Patricia Booker, from 1956 to 1967.

Rupert Murdoch is engaged — again.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The battle for cable-news viewers is coming to March Madness. CNN intends to run a new promo during the heavily watched NCAA men’s basketball tournament that throws a sharp verbal elbow at Fox News Channel and the legal defamation case filed against it by Dominion Voting Systems. The promos will air starting this weekend on TNT, TBS, TruTV and CBS, all of which carry the games under a joint rights agreement held by the owners of those networks, Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery, which is also the parent of CNN. Fox News Channel is not mentioned in the promo script, reviewed by Variety, but the references are clear. “What should you expect of a news network?” asks the narrator. “Some bury the truth, while we fight to reveal the facts. The only side we are on is yours.” Viewers see images of CNN correspondents and anchors such as Abby Phillip and Clarissa Ward.

Fox News Channel viewers are less trusting of the cable network in the wake of publicly disclosed text messages and emails from Fox executives and on-air personalities, according to a new survey.  But only 9% of Fox News viewers say they aren’t watching the network as much as they used to, per research provided exclusively to Variety Intelligence Platform by consumer insights specialists Maru Group. (Click to an expanded subscriber version for full results.) A representative for Fox News told VIP+, “There has been no impact to advertising, with no advertisers dropping or pausing.” 

feels the need, the need — to stay far away from his ex-wife, Nicole Kidman. The 60-year-old “Top Gun: Maverick” actor was noticeably absent from the 2023 Oscars on Sunday, despite the movie being nominated for six awards. He reportedly was MIA because he wanted to avoid an “awkward run-in” with Kidman, 55, whom he divorced more than 20 years ago.“Tom was not there because she was there, and he did not want a run-in,” a source reportedly told the Daily Mail on Monday.But insiders close to Cruise allegedly told the outlet that his absence was “not personal” and instead the result of scheduling issues.

Fox CEO Rupert Murdoch for creating “monsters” like Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity, then trying to disavow their words.Those words, of course, came in the form of emails and text messages, which have been steadily released in court filings from Dominion. Quite a bit has come out, so here’s what you need to know: At the end of February, Dominion docs revealed that several Fox hosts, including Ingraham and Hannity, were privately bashing election deniers that were being brought on their shows in 2020.Among the messages: “Sidney Powell is lying,” sent from Tucker Carlson to his producer Alex Pfeiffer on Nov.

A huge release of text messages, emails and deposition transcripts dropped today in the Dominion vs. Fox litigation sheds further light on the scramble among Fox News personalities and Fox Corp. executives to respond to the backlash in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election and then the repercussions after the attack on the Capitol on January 6th.

The New York Times examined the response of those networks to the private messages that were made public in Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News. According to the NY Times findings, only four publications – Gateway Pundit, Newsmax, the Washington Examiner and the Western Journal – mentioned the suit in some way. However, none of them worked the Fox employees’ private comments into their coverage.

Saturday Night Live went with the week’s biggest media stories for its cold open: the revelations from Dominion Voting Systems bombshell filing in its defamation lawsuit against Fox News. Watch a clip below.

Katie Reul editor On the heels of a close victory at Super Bowl LVII, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce is once again taking over global television screens as this week’s host of “Saturday Night Live.” The episode opened with a mock “Fox & Friends” segment, featuring Mikey Day as Steve Doocy, Heidi Gardner as Ainsley Earhardt and Bowen Yang as Brian Kilmeade. The sketch comes amid a cascade of embarrassing revelations around Fox News and its major stars in recent days as the litigation grinds on in the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit filed against Fox News by Dominion Voting Systems after the 2020 election. As Earhardt, Gardner says of the network’s founder Rupert Murdoch: “Rupert Murdoch would never murder anyone. They sent him away for life. Look how sad he looks.” An image of convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh then appears on the screen as Earhardt realizes her mistake.