In a rare glimpse into his personal life, Fox's Shepard Smith told students at the University of Mississippi that while he is gay, it is only a part of who he is.
"I don't think about it," Smith said. "It's not a thing. I go to work. I manage a lot of people. I cover the news. I deal with holy hell around me. I go home to the man I'm in love with."
Smith addressed Ole Miss journalism students last month but his comments began attracting national attention after a story was published this week in the Clarion-Ledger.
Smith's sexuality wasn't a secret, though he has rarely speaks on the topic publicly.
Last year, he addressed it when asked about former Fox News chief Roger Ailes, who resigned from the conservative news network following allegations he sexually harassed female employees. Since that time, Bill O'Reilly, the host of cable's top-rated show "The O'Reilly Factor," was fired over similar allegations.
Smith addressed Ailes' firing in his comments at Ole Miss.
"Someone asked me if Roger Ailes (founder and former chairman and CEO of Fox News and the Fox Television Stations Group) had been abusive to me, and I said, 'No. He was always good to me,' and that was the truth. And when I told the truth, I guess it was considered that I outed myself. I didn't even think about it, because I didn't think I was in."
Smith, Fox's chief news anchor and managing editor of its breaking news division, said he never hid his sexuality but generally avoided questions about it over concerns about the consequences.
"A. You're going to hell for it," he said, explaining his reluctance to address the questions. "B. You'll never have any friends again. C. What are you going to tell your family? And by the way, you're on television on the craziest conservative network on Earth. That will probably put you in front of a brick wall. Of course none of that was true, but that's how it felt."
When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are undisturbed. Luke 11:21
"Every nation in every region now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." -- George W. Bush
More shiny stuff to distract the gullible from the facts, focus on him being gay and hip and all the acceptance that gets, and not how he's a liberal hack of the fake news MSM.
Posts: 2948 | Location: Boston, Mass | Registered: December 02, 2000
I don't care who he plays pin the tail on the donkey with. He needs to stop using the line "We report, you decide" because he dosen't report a dam thing. He editorializes everything. And everything is anti-Trump and anti-conservative. The monkier "Fair and Balenced" dosen't exist for him.
His mug shows up on the TV, I can't reach for the remote fast enough.
"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people and I require the same from them." - John Wayne in "The Shootist"
Posts: 3541 | Location: California | Registered: May 31, 2004