Fox’s Will Cain Apologizes to Ex-DNC Boss for ‘Communication Failure’ That Sparked Heated On-Air Clash
Fox News host Will Cain apologized to former DNC Chair Jaime Harrison on Wednesday for a “communication failure” that helped spark their heated on-air clash a day earlier, acknowledging Harrison had a “reasonable expectation” that the interview would focus on South Carolina’s Republican primary.
The mea culpa followed a contentious interview Tuesday in which Cain grilled Harrison on the influence of democratic socialists within the Democratic Party. As the two repeatedly talked over each other, Harrison, also the former head of the South Carolina Democratic Party, accused Cain of misleading him about the purpose of the appearance, saying he had expected to discuss the state’s Republican primary.
Cain said he was unaware of any such expectation but told Harrison he would apologize if his staff had given him that impression. He then ended the interview.
On Wednesday’s edition of The Will Cain Show, the Fox News host told viewers, “I wanna clean something up.”
He continued:
[Harrison and I] had a contentious conversation about democratic socialism and its influence inside the Democratic Party. At the end, Jaime accused me of lying to him, of baiting-and-switching him. He said he’d been told he was coming on to talk about the South Carolina Republican primary, and he repeated that accusation afterward on X.
Now, in the moment, I told him I had no idea what he was talking about, and I didn’t. But I also told him that if we misled him, I would apologize. So, I went back and reviewed the communication leading up to the interview. Nobody explicitly promised Jaime that the South Carolina primary would be the subject of the interview. There was no intentional bait-and-switch. That’s not who I am, and that’s not who we are as a show.
But I can also see how Jaime came away believing that was what we would be talking about. That was a reasonable expectation based on the communication. So, I reject that idea that anybody lied to Jaime or deliberately misled him. The truth is much more mundane.
There was a breakdown in communication. I would never let a guest dictate what I can ask him. Had that been the deal, I would not have agreed to the interview. But that’s separate from what Jaime, I think, reasonably believed. The communication failure came from my show, and ultimately, I own it. So Jaime, I understand why you felt misled. I know what it’s like, what it feels like, if you thought you were ambushed on TV, and I understand why you were angry. And for that, I owe you an apology.
Watch above via Fox News.
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