The boycott of Glenn Beck's show,led by the group Color of Change, has resulted in some 20 advertisers dropping sponsorship of his "show" on the Fox News Channel. Fox is feeling the heat and it now appears that Beck's vacation this week wasn't voluntary:
First on TVNewser: Tipsters inside Fox News tell us Glenn Beck's vacation this week from his Fox News show was not planned. We hear Beck was told to take this week off to let some of the heat surrounding him die down. That heat began July 28 on "Fox & Friends" when Beck said he thought Pres. Obama has "a deep-seated hatred for white people," adding, "This guy is, I believe, a racist."
A Fox News spokesperson denied our accounts and simply told us, "Glenn Beck will back on Monday." But several sources inside FNC confirm that this is a forced vacation.
Fox is denying Beck was forced to take the week off to let things cool down, but TV Newser is sticking to its story:
Update: Sources close to Beck have contacted TVNewser denying that this was a forced vacation. Beck's personal publicist Matthew Hiltzik forwarded us an email dated July 14th sent by Christopher Balfe, President & COO of Mercury Radio Arts and General Manager of Beck's radio show, addressed to Mercury Radio employees reading:
Glenn will be off of radio & TV the week of August 17th, returning to air August 24th.
Contrary to that, our tipsters tell us it was Beck himself who was telling Fox staffers last week that he was "forced to take the week off." Read on...
If the powers that be at Fox think that hiding Glenn Beck for a week is going to slow down the boycott against him, they are sorely mistaken. We'll be right here when Glenn gets back on Monday.
