On Friday, Todd Starnes, a conservative radio host, cautioned his listeners that Fox News and other conservative news outlets may be using impostors who are paid to feign conservatism, thereby deceiving their viewers. Starnes also alleged that this practice extends to conservative talk radio.
Starnes responded to the court filing in Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox News, which disclosed that the network’s top executives and well-known personalities mocked allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 election behind closed doors.
Starnes spent over 14 years at Fox News Channel. He has also worked at WLAC in Nashville and KFBK in Sacramento.
“Why would people go through all this trouble to be something they’re not?” Starnes asked. “The answer is simple, a paycheck. In the conservative world, there are some good-sized paychecks. So, people are willing to sacrifice their own moral values, their own moral center, to make a dollar, or a million dollars, or ten million dollars.”
The report published on Friday provides the most detailed description so far of the disorder that took place at Fox News following Trump’s electoral defeat, and the audience’s uprising against the conservative network for accurately predicting Biden as the winner.
Starnes stated that he is not inclined to engage in the act of exploiting conservatism for quick financial gain, saying, “It’s just not part of who I am.”
“For example, when the Capitol riots happened, they happened during our program and I offered immediate commentary and I condemned the behavior of the people that were breaking the windows and storming into the building and fighting with the police,” he said. “Many of you took issue with that and that’s fine, that’s your opinion. You may not always agree with me on what I say and that’s ok too.”
According to Starnes, his audience recognizes that his on-air convictions align with his beliefs off-air.
“You may think that my opinion is wrong-headed on-air, but that same opinion is wrong-headed off air,” he said. “But the reality is, that what you see is what you get when it comes to the ‘Todd Starnes Radio Show.’ When I was at Fox News Channel, what you see is what you got, and it really irritated a lot of the on-air hosts. They would tell me off-air; do you really believe that.”
“The Todd Starnes Show” airs from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM on weekdays and from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM on Sundays on KWAM, 107.9 FM and 990 AM in Memphis, Tennessee.
