Kristen Bell, Brian Cox, Other Actors Surprised by 15-Year-Old Voice Recordings Used in Fox News Audio Jesus Podcast

Screenshot via Fox News.

A new Fox News podcast is being promoted as featuring a “world-class cast” to tell the story of the life of Jesus Christ, but the actors whose voices were used say they were surprised by the project, having made the recordings years ago for a totally different project unconnected to Fox News.

The trailer and website for the The Life of Jesus Podcast say each of the 52 episodes will be introduced by Fox News host Ainsley Earhardt and the cast “features more than 100 actors including: Sean Astin (Matthew), Kristen Bell (Mary Magdalene), Neal McDonough (Jesus), Blair Underwood (Mark), Malcolm McDowell (Caiaphas), Stacy Keach (John), Hill Harper (Angel of the Lord), Julia Ormond (Mother Mary), Michael York (Luke), Brian Cox (Voice of God) and John Rhys-Davies (Narrator).”

However, as Rolling Stone reported, the announcement of the podcast “blindsided” the actors, who originally recorded their audio for an entirely different project 15 years ago, a New Testament audiobook called The Truth and Life Dramatized Audio Bible, from 2010. One of the producers for that audiobook entered into a partnership agreement with Gulfstream Studios, which then licensed The Life of Jesus Podcast to Fox Faith.

A representative for Bell told Rolling Stone that she did not give permission for the audiobook recording to be reused for this new podcast and was not even aware it was happening, finding out about it when her team was contacted with an invitation to appear on Fox & Friends one day before the podcast was announced on Wednesday.

Representatives for several other actors confirmed they had not been informed of the new podcast nor gave their permission. Rhys-Davies’ rep said he only found out about the “repurposed” audio this week, and Cox’s rep issued a statement, saying, “Brian recorded audio for a project over a decade ago. He was unaware that the audio would be repurposed for a new podcast series in 2025. Brian only became aware of the podcast today.”

So far no one is claiming their contracts did not allow such licensing or accusing the company of other legal breaches, but the involvement of Fox may be a source of friction for some of the actors who have been critical of the network. Cox, for example, compared Fox News to “the devil” during a 2021 interview about his character on Succession, which widely viewed to have been inspired by Rupert Murdoch.

The original 2010 audiobook is still available in several formats, including a listing on Amazon that costs $12.61 at the time of publication and includes a foreword from the late Pope Benedict XVI.

Earhardt promoted the podcast again on Friday’s episode of Fox & Friends, saying it “features more than 100 actors” without mentioning any of the controversy over the years-old audio.

A Fox News spokesperson provided the following statement to Mediaite:

Gulfstream Studios produced the “Life of Jesus Podcast” from The Truth and Life Dramatized Audio Bible, which was licensed by FOX News Audio, with full cooperation and participation by all the actors involved.

Watch the clip above via Fox News.