It’s an open secret that FoxNews host Shepard Smith is gay, much the way it was with Anderson Cooper for years — no denials, but facts are facts. On a conservative station like FoxNews — which, if it were smart, would tout its out reporter as proof that conservatism isn’t just for cranky old white men — being gay and on-air is apparently a nonstarter, though, so Shep has kept hush-hush about it. But in recent years, he’s taken less time concealing (for example, bringing his boyfriend to the company picnic).
Now Gawker is reporting that Smith wants to officially come out, only FoxNew head Roger Ailes said “no.” It’s pretty sad that your employer even has the right to control your sexual identity (the public face of it, anyway), but Ailes seems to have taken it a step further: Smith has been “demoted” (reassigned to a less desirable time slot), allegedly in retaliation. Fox has denied the allegations.
The question I have is: Why would Smith work for FoxNews in the first place?
