Where’s Gutfeld!? Fox News Preempts Comedy Show to Cover Brooklyn Center Riots

Fox News gave Gutfeld! the boot on Tuesday evening, opting instead for live coverage of the riots taking place in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.

The network did so without an announcement, and apparently without providing much notice to host Greg Gutfeld, who promoted the show on his Twitter account less than five hours before its scheduled 11 p.m. airtime. Laura Ingraham closed out the 10 p.m. hour with an unceremonious announcement that Shannon Bream would be covering the situation in Minnesota — and no acknowledgement of Gutfeld’s absence. Bream told viewers the program would return on Wednesday.

Gutfeld kicked off on April 6 as the top program in its timeslot, netting 1.68 million total viewers and 318,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo. MSNBC host Brian Williams came in second with 1.21 million total viewers, about 30 percent fewer than his competitor. Gutfeld also averaged 1.57 million viewers during his first week on air, beating NBC’s broadcast Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon (1.37 million) and effectively tying ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! (1.58 million).

Tuesday marked the third evening of unrest in Brooklyn Center after 20-year-old Daunte Wright’s shooting death on Sunday. Officer Kim Potter, who shot Wright during a traffic stop, said she intended to use a Taser but inadvertently pulled out her firearm. Potter resigned from the department on Tuesday, along with Chief Tim Gannon.