Diamond and Silk take the fall for Fox’s irresponsible coronavirus coverage – By Matt Gertz (Media Matters) / April 28 2020
For the second time in a month, Fox News has cut ties with commentators over their unhinged remarks about the novel coronavirus. This time, the casualties are Lynnette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson, sisters who under the stage names “Diamond” and “Silk” had parlayed their obsequious support for President Donald Trump into vlogging stardom, regular Fox appearances, and a show on Fox’s streaming service, Fox Nation. But there have been no new episodes of their program since April 7, and The Daily Beast reported Monday that the pair had lost their network gig after coming “under fire for promoting conspiracy theories and disinformation about the coronavirus.” The report follows Media Matters’ comprehensive reporting on their virus lies.
Diamond and Silk’s departure isn’t a sign that Fox is becoming more responsible about its handling of the pandemic. The network doesn’t have hard standards against lies, bigotry, or conspiracy theories that it enforces on its right-wing commentators. Instead, it has a public relations strategy that revolves around sacrificing low-level employees when they draw too much negative media attention for their remarks, while protecting its big stars when they do the same thing.
Spouting nonsense to support Trump is what made Diamond and Silk famous enough in MAGA circles to make their Fox Nation show viable in the first place. But over the past month, the pair drew media heat for their coronavirus commentary, as the Daily Beast noted. They baselessly claimed on their livestream “that the number of American coronavirus deaths has been inflated to make Trump look bad.” And their tweet opposing quarantines and calling for people to expose themselves to the virus instead was deleted by Twitter.
The duo’s comments were risible and dangerous. They also weren’t dissimilar from what more prominent Fox employees have said on the network’s highest-rated programs — albeit in a more high-brow fashion.
Star host Tucker Carlson and Brit Hume, Fox’s senior political analyst, argued on Tucker Carlson Tonight earlier this month that the COVID-19 death toll had been inflated due to what Carlson termed journalists’ “agenda.” (In fact, data suggests that the COVID-19 death total has been significantly undercounted.)
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