Fox Host Admits Network Went Too Far With ‘Wannabe Dictator’ Biden Chyron

Fox News host Howard Kurtz admitted on Sunday that the conservative network “went too far” with its chyron about President Joe Biden that ran last week.

The cable news network was recently criticized for a chyron it used during its primetime coverage of former President Donald Trump‘s arraignment in Miami on Tuesday. That day Fox News put up a banner on screen saying Biden was a “wannabe dictator.” In addition, Fox News was the most watched news network that day.

Fox News told Newsweek in a statement on Wednesday that the chyron “was taken down immediately.” Still, Kurtz criticized the network for it during a segment on Media Buzz.

“Fox News briefly put up a banner that went too far on the day of Donald Trump’s arraignment, referring to President Biden. ‘Wannabe dictator speaks at White House after having his political rival arrested.’ Fox said in a statement the chyron was taken down immediately and was addressed,” he said during the program.

When the chyron aired, Fox News had a split screen between Biden’s speech at the White House and Trump’s speech from Bedminster, New Jersey. Meanwhile, Alexander McCaskill, the Fox News producer who authored the chyron, has since departed the network after it aired.

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson recently criticized the network over the departure of McCaskill, who used to work on Carlson’s primetime show before he was ousted from the network in April.

“Inside Fox, the women who run the network panicked,” Carlson said in a video posted to Twitter. “First, they scolded the producer who put the banner on the screen. Less than 24 hours after that, he resigned.”

He added: “He’d been at Fox for more than a decade. He was one of the most capable people in the building. He offered to stay for the customary two weeks, but Fox told him to clear out his desk and leave immediately.”

Trump was indicted last week by a federal grand jury for his alleged mishandling of hundreds of classified documents that the FBI recovered from his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida last August.

The former president is facing 37 federal charges over his alleged mishandling of classified documents that he took with him when he left the White House in January 2021 and allegedly obstructed governmental efforts to return the documents to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The Department of Justice (DOJ) launched an investigation into the matter and appointed special counsel Jack Smith to oversee the case.

Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges and has maintained his innocence throughout the DOJ’s probe.

Newsweek reached out by email to Fox News for additional comment.