Fox News bowed to COS pressure when it fired columnist

[Kha Khan]

NY Daily News: Fox's axed man blames Scientologists

[NOTE: Comments are open on the NY Daily News article.]

Excerpt:

Fox News bowed to pressure from Kelly Preston, Tom Cruise and other members of the Church of Scientology when it fired columnist Roger Friedman, the entertainment journo is expected to charge in a wrongful termination lawsuit this week.

Further excerpt:

Last August, Friedman went to Memphis for the funeral of his friend and R&B legend Isaac Hayes, who was a Scientologist. Preston was also in town for the funeral. Friedman, who now writes for The Hollywood Reporter, tells us that when Preston saw him at the Peabody Hotel, Mrs. John Travolta loudly blasted him for his columns criticizing Scientology.

“She called me a ‘religious bigot,’  ” Friedman recalls.

The following month, says an ally of Friedman, Preston voiced her complaints about Friedman to Fox News chief Roger Ailes and his then-EVP, John Moody.

“Moody talked to her on the phone,” says the source. “When she couldn’t get Moody to fire Friedman, she called him a [obscenity].”

Ailes and Moody later agreed to meet with Preston and Church of Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis (the son of actress Anne Archer), according to the source, who says Friedman’s editors subsequently forbid him from writing about the death in January of Preston’s son, Jett.

Meanwhile, Friedman says, 20th Century Fox chairman Jim Gianopoulos had been encouraging him to lay off Cruise’s movie “Valkyrie,” which Fox was distributing internationally.

Last month, Variety reported that Cruise was in advanced talks to star with Cameron Diaz in a Fox action comedy, “Wichita.” A source suspects that Cruise may have made Friedman’s ouster a condition of the actor appearing in “Wichita.  ”

Niki Finke's Deadline Hollywood: Friedman Fired Due To Scientology Pressure?

[NOTE: Comments are open on the Niki Finke article.]

Excerpt:

Garbus told Rush & Molloy that he will be filing a "slam dunk" wrongful termination lawsuit in Manhattan Federal Court this week over Fox News' recent firing of Roger Friedman. News Corp stated publicly that Friedman's promotion of Internet piracy was the cause of his firing. But Garbus contends that 4 of the gossip writer's "editors and superiors" reviewed and okayed the column. As for Friedman, he's claiming he was axed because of pressure from Hollywood Scientologists who didn't like his coverage of their religion.

Gawker: Roger Friedman - Celebrity Scientologists Got Me Fired From Fox!

[NOTE: Comments are open on the Gawker article.]

Excerpt:

Wow: Roger Friedman's accusing prominent Church of Scientology members Tom Cruise and Kelly Preston of conspiring against him, and he's citing this as the reason he was fired from his job as a showbiz columnist in a lawsuit against Fox.

News Corpse: Did Fox News Capitulate To Scientology?

[NOTE: Comments are open on the News Corpse article.]

Excerpt:

Last April, Fox News entertainment reporter, Roger Friedman, was fired, allegedly because he had acquired and viewed a bootleg copy of 20th Century Fox’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” At the time it appeared a rather harsh sentence considering that Fox has no problem with continuing to employ people who…

* …joke about assassinating Barack Obama (Liz Trotta).
* …read Republican Party press releases on the air as if they were actually news (Jon Scott).
* …express a desire to strangle competing reporters (Bill O’Reilly).
* …yearn to choke Michael Moore to death (Glenn Beck).

Further excerpt:

Now the New York Daily News is reporting that Friedman is suing Fox News for wrongful termination, and the reason is something I had not anticipated. He is claiming that Rupert Murdoch and News Corp bowed to pressure from Kelly Preston and Tom Cruise who wanted Friedman fired because he had written critically of Scientology. At first, that seems to be a frivolous assertion, but upon further examination it becomes more plausible.

The Scientology organization has a reputation for being fiercely aggressive when it believes that it has been disparaged. And Friedman did indeed write multiple columns that were less than complimentary to Scientology. For example: Television Star Exits Scientology and Will Scientology Celebs Sign ‘Spiritual’ Contract? and Isaac Hayes’ History With Scientology. And there were others that touched on big stars like Will Smith and Tom Cruise.

Daily Kos: Fox News Capitulates To Scientology? (Comments Open)


New York Magazine: Did Scientologists Get Roger Friedman Fired?

[[NOTE: Comments are open on the NY Magazine Article]

Excerpt:

Tom Cruise may have botched Hitler's assassination, but did he and other famous Scientologists successfully conspire to have an entertainment columnist fired? Yes, according to a fired entertainment columnist! Roger Friedman — the gossip dismissed by Fox News in April, ostensibly for reviewing the leaked version of Wolverine — has accused his former employer of terminating him because of pressure on Fox from Hollywood Scientologists. Martin Garbus, Friedman's lawyer, tells the Daily News today he intends to file a "slam dunk" wrongful-termination suit in Manhattan court this week.

 

[SchwimmelPuckel]

Actually this is great!

Because shit like this will not be accepted. This is about the baddest PR the cult could make for itself... I hope Friedman gets a suitcase of dollars and a new job where he can continue slamming Scientology!

Let's rejoice! - That they are such blithering idiots.

 

[Kha Khan]

Actually this is great!

Because shit like this will not be accepted. This is about the baddest PR the cult could make for itself... I hope Friedman gets a suitcase of dollars and a new job where he can continue slamming Scientology!

Let's rejoice! - That they are such blithering idiots.

As Nikki Finke pointed out, Friedman already has a new job at The Hollywood Reporter.