Larry the Cable Guy Gripes Fox News Took Him Out of Context: ‘This is Why I Never Do Interviews’

Larry the Cable Guy was not thrilled with how Fox News covered his recent podcast comments that conservatives like him were once shunned by corporations looking for pitchmen.

The veteran comic griped the outlet took his comments “outa context (sic)” in a Sunday X post.

Here’s what happened: Larry the Cable Guy re-posted a Fox story that mentioned his comments on The MeatEater podcast from Oct. 12, where he said “back in the day” he didn’t understand why DirecTV opted for a “good-looking guy” in its ad instead of him.

“The first thing that I thought was, ‘Why don’t they get me? Larry the Cable Guy is switching to DirecTV.’ It would’ve been huge!” he said.

He went on, explaining that executives “at the time” felt he had a narrow appeal because of his accent and because he said things that were a “little controversial.”

“Meanwhile, you got frickin’ rappers, you know, singing about killing cops!” he vented.

Fox News picked up those comments and ran them in a story published on Saturday. He wasn’t thrilled about it.

Larry the Cable Guy posted:

lol. This is why I never do interviews because clips are always taken outa context. First of all my career has been amazing and I’m not unhappy about anything. This was a light hearted conversation before a Nebraska game in my suite box about how “BACK IN THE DAY” some corporations wouldn’t hire some people they deemed “controversial” or “offensive” but yet they would hire other people that were controversial and offensive.

That was it. That was the conversation Then here comes the news doing what they do best.. getting clicks by taking the 2 hour podcast outa context. Also, use a better pic than this one. Im much hotter now. lol

In fairness, the Fox News story seemed to offer a fair amount of context, because the story mentioned Larry the Cable Guy said this was an issue “back in the day” in its third paragraph.

The first graph may have bothered him a bit, though, because it was written as if it was still an issue: “Larry the Cable Guy says corporate America has a double standard when it comes to choosing which entertainers are too controversial for advertising campaigns.”

Maybe he was just mad with the media world in general, because other outlets like the New York Post posted about his remarks as well. 

Fox News added an editor’s note to its post after the comic complained on X.

“This story was revised after Larry the Cable Guy said some of his comments were taken out of context and that he harbors no genuine ill toward corporations over their treatment of him,” the note said.

You can judge it yourself by watching above.

The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
The single summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting from both sides of the aisle. Subscribe now!