An April Fools’ Day joke has reportedly landed a host in some hot water. The Daily Beast reports Newsmax anchor Rob Finnerty is currently under internal fire for his “breaking news” stunt, saying that Russia had surrendered and agreed to a ceasefire with Ukraine.
“Um, this is breaking news! And this is just happening. So I’m just hearing this, but apparently, we have a ceasefire in Ukraine. Russia has apparently surrendered,” Finnerty exclaimed.
“Now again, we don’t have anything confirmed, but this news just coming into my ear. Ah, apparently, President Zelensky has reached a tentative deal with President Vladimir Putin on a ceasefire.”
The joke caused Finnerty’s Newsmax colleagues “pissed,” but, according to multiple insiders, Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy is also “furious” that the morning anchor chose to use a bloody war, which the Ukrainian president has called a “genocide,” as a goofy punchline.
“I’ve never in my life seen anything like that,” one Newsmax staffer stated. “Obviously, Mark Halperin was horrified. At least his answer was appropriate. How anyone would think that was remotely acceptable is beyond me?”
“They weren’t happy with him,” another Newsmax staffer said. “Just a bad joke. The control room didn’t even know what he was doing.”
The Daily Beast reached out for comment from Ruddy, who stated, “I don’t really comment on these internal matters.”
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
