Fox News anchor Leland Vittert, who has been with the network for more than a decade, has mysteriously parted ways with Fox News with no explanation after being off the air for months following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Fox News was contacted by multiple news outlets concerning Vittert’s departure and they made a brief, terse statement: “We have mutually and amicably parted ways with Leland Vittert.” They did not indicate when the anchor stopped working for the network or why.
The rumor mill has been in overdrive for months regarding the status of Vittert and his professional future. He has not been on Twitter since Jan. 13, as his account appears dormant.
In recent years as a weekend anchor, Vittert has become a controversial figure on Fox News and was frequently a target of former President Trump for his less than conservative coverage.
(Video Credit: Fox News)
“Were @FoxNews weekend anchors, @ArthelNeville and @LelandVittert, trained by CNN prior to their ratings collapse?” Trump tweeted in 2019. “In any event, that’s where they should be working, along with their lowest rated anchor, Shepard Smith!”
In one very contentious interview, Vittert clashed with Erin Perrine, who was a member of the Trump campaign team, during the 2020 election coverage of the presidential race. Many Trump supporters were furious with the network for Vittert’s behavior during that interview.
Also in 2020, Vittert locked horns with presidential hopeful, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), which led to her accusing him of “misconstruing” her policies.
Before parting ways with Fox News, Vittert found himself caught up in several heated protests. He was confronted at the Capitol riot by Trump supporters and had this to say to host Shannon Bream on Fox: “I was confronted by protesters demanding to know if I was a patriot, in their words, who supported the president. At the time, they had no idea I was a journalist. They would come up to people in the street, all over the city, and ask if you were a patriot and then demand some type of oath of allegiance to the president. And it wasn’t just me.”
In May of 2020, Vittert and his news crew were surrounded by angry, violent protesters at a George Floyd demonstration. He was reporting from Lafayette Park, which is situated across from the White House, when protesters surrounded him and his crew, throwing water on them and yelling profanities about him and Fox News. They were harassed, pursued, and some protesters tried to snatch their equipment.
(Video Credit: Fox News)
At one notable point in the incident, a masked woman photobombed Vittert and then screamed: “F*** Fox News, y’all.”
“We have some media critics out here,” Vittert reported as protesters charged at him chanting: “F*** Fox News!”
A former war correspondent, Vittert said the Washington, D.C. altercation was the scariest situation he had been involved in since getting chased out of Tahrir Square in Egypt by a violent mob during coverage of the 2011 Arab Spring uprising.
Vittert came on board the network in 2010 as a foreign correspondent. He most recently anchored on weekends. There is no word on his plans now that he has left Fox News.
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