Just How Long Did Fox News Wait to Preempt 'Gutfeld!' on Tuesday Night?
Gutfeld! did not air in its regular 11 p.m. time slot on Tuesday night as FOX News instead opted for live coverage of the third night of protests in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. Right as Greg Gutfeld's monologue should have been starting, Shannon Bream shocked a nation that could have really used a good laugh by saying, "Gutfeld will be back tomorrow."
“Gutfeld! will be back tomorrow” pic.twitter.com/tgwUpLcxXf
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 14, 2021
As Vox's Aaron Rupar tweeted, it is "pretty weird to randomly preempt a show in its second week." The question is, who knew what when?
The @GutfledFox Twitter account tweeted the show's expected panelists at 6:15 p.m. Gutfeld himself tweeted about the show from his personal account at 10:33 p.m. Obviously, both of those could have been scheduled hours earlier. So the show was definitely on as of 6:15 p.m. Just how close did FOX News really cut it?
Looking forward to a great show. Especially @PlanetTyrus whose incredibly brave in his take on the protests. No one else has the guts he has on this. It’s worth staying up and watching https://t.co/cJN3uOwg2O
— GregGutfeld (@greggutfeld) April 14, 2021
Based on the Twitter feed of FOX News personality and regular guest Tyrus, it looks like it was a very last-minute decision. @GutfeldFox tweeted about Tyrus at 10:40 p.m. That also could have been scheduled. However, Tyrus retweeted the 10:33 p.m. Greg Gutfeld tweet meaning that even if someone had scheduled those the Gutweets, Tyrus still thought the show was on at some point after 10:33 p.m. when he retweeted the show's host.
He's never heard of a step stool. Host of "Nuff Said" on @foxnation, @PlanetTyrus returns tonight! #Gutfeld
— Gutfeld! (@Gutfeldfox) April 14, 2021
The other scheduled guests from Tuesday's ill-fated show offer no social media clues. Matt Schlapp retweeted the @GutfeldFox account at some point, but then retweeted pictures of a dog and a painting of a boat. Lara Trump did not tweet about her appearance. Neither did Kat Timpf, who has appeared on every episode and tweeted or retweeted ahead of most of those appearances.
Whenever FOX News decided to not air their high-profile, highly-rated answer to woke late-night comedy, everyone involved appeared to be planning on the show airing on Tuesday night.
It was an especially curious decision since they did air Gutfeld! on Monday night when the exact same protests were going on. Bream said Gutfeld will be back on Wednesday, but what if the protests are still going on in Minnesota? Makes you wonder if something else was going on behind the scenes. In fact, it would actually make more sense if they preempted Gutfeld! again tonight and until things settled down in Brooklyn Center.
Either way, someone over there is in a real pickle. Do you stick with the news and risk upsetting your new star, or do you ignore actual news on a news channel? Perhaps FOX News will simply wait and let the ratings decide.