Comedian Francis Ellis—a regular Fox News guest best known for blogging for Barstool Sports—was caught on a hot mic criticizing the right-wing news network after wrapping up an episode of the Barstool Rundown podcast.
Full, unedited audio containing Ellis' comments was published online by Barstool and then quickly taken down—but not before the audio was captured by the political news site Mediaite.
Ellis can be heard chatting with co-hosts about a recent appearance he made on the program of Fox News personality Jesse Watters and saying he felt "disappointed with [himself]" for appearing on a network that is "just trafficking in hate."
The audio of his remarks is included below.
Ellis said:
"I got home, I talked to my wife about it [his appearance on Watters' program] because I was disappointed in myself and she was like, ‘Let’s be honest, like, do you want to be working with these f**king people?’”
“She was like, ‘I watched the rest of his show and... he's a f**king joke.' ...
"That and when like [Fox News personality Tucker Carlson] comes on and just screams... it's so weird. They're just trafficking in hate."
Ellis went on to say he "went into a place that I shouldn’t have gone to" because he'd irresponsibly regurgitated conspiracy theories about Democrats "eating children beneath pizza shops," a direct reference to "Pizzagate," a debunked conspiracy theory targeting Democrats that claimed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ran a pedophilia ring out of the basement of a pizza restaurant that didn't have a basement.
The comedian expressed regret about misleading viewers during his recent appearance on Watters' program because “there are people watching that who don’t know that I’m f**king with them" and told his Barstool colleague Adam Ferrone that he's "not here to further divide the country.
The audio of Ellis' remarks soon went viral and confirmed what many have long said about Fox's knack for stoking faux conservative outrage.
Ellis has not commented on the audio and neither has Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, himself a regular Fox News guest.
In its report of Ellis' unguarded remarks, Mediaite said Ellis "probably should have known what he was getting into by appearing on Fox News, even if they are finally throwing Donald Trump to the curb — as if that wasn’t clearing one of the lowest bars possible."
Mediaite refered to recent pushback from conservatives who appeared on Fox News to excoriate Trump after he called for the termination of the United States Constitution, comments that have inflamed tensions toward a network that has regularly pushed Trump's "Big Lie" that the 2020 general election was stolen.
