From ‘Masturbatory Gestures’ to Wild Misogyny: Here Are the Cable Pundits That Were Fired or Resigned This Year

Reports of masturbatory gesturing, wild misogyny, allegations of cheating on your mistress with a third woman. Those are just some of the reasons pundits have been fired or resigned from the top three cable news networks in 2018.

It’s not just the Trump White House that bleeds out staffers. It was a tough year for the pro-Trump media surrogate too. On CNN, pro-Trump voices were berated and mocked on 12-person mega-panels, only to get fired when their aggressive stupidity became too much to stomach. Fox News was less trigger-happy on firings, despite controversial figures they put on air stoking more than enough controversy this year. MSNBC managed to maintain a low profile, not firing any pundits in 2018 (though they had a few contenders that could have faced the chopping block.)

Here are the talking heads whose cable news careers didn’t survive 2018:

Paris Dennard – CNN

Paris Dennard was long one of the more absurd pro-Trump surrogates that would appear on CNN to present defenses of the administration. Dennard was suspended and eventually fired by CNN after the Washington Post published a university report that detailed alleged misconduct against women. Dennard, per the report, “pretended to unzip his pants in her presence, tried to get her to sit on his lap, and made masturbatory gestures.” He denied the allegations.

Dennard had crazy CNN appearances aplenty. Watch him defend Trump’s infamous Charlottesville comments above.

Kevin Jackson – Fox News

Kevin Jackson was a contributor on Fox News, a frequent guest on Outnumbered and Fox & Friends. Then, during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings, he called the accusers of then-Supreme Court nominee “lying skanks,” as well as other derogatory and equally childish insults. He was promptly fired a few hours later.

Settling on a clip for Jackson for this post wasn’t easy — he said a series of batshit things on Fox News airwaves, like when he got very creepy and said, inexplicably, that Robert Mueller is “pulling on the threads of Hillary’s skirt.” There was also the time he suggested, with no evidence, that James Comey plotted to assassinate Trump, which you can watch above.

Ed Martin – CNN

We were big fans of Ed Martin here at Mediaite — we even wrote a tribute for him after he was fired. He was brought on to CNN to replace Jeffrey Lord, the dimwitted but lovable Trump surrogate who was fired himself for jokingly tweeting “Sieg Heil!” at a detractor.

The reasons for Martin’s departure were less scandalous — it’s unclear why he was fired, but we assume it had something to do with gaping idiocy. While he only lasted four months at CNN, he packed in a series of absurd appearances. His first night on CNN — where he got in Ana Navarro‘s “danger zone” — might have been his finest. Watch above.

Jason Miller – CNN

Jason Miller, unlike most people on this list, apparently made the decision himself to leave CNN, where he served as a contributor. The former Trump campaign adviser did so after scandalous allegations were levied at him by A.J. Delgado, another Trump campaign aide with whom he fathered a child. Delgado alleged that Miller — who was married at the time of their relationship — had another relationship with a woman he met at a strip club. Delgado made other allegations that Miller denied, and he is now suing Splinter for repeating them.

On CNN, Miller was renowned for defending the president to the bitter end, no matter the circumstances. Watch above for a clip of Miller getting pummeled by a CNN panel for defending Trump tweeting about Oprah after the Parkland, Florida school shooting.

Marc Lamont Hill – CNN

Marc Lamont Hill is one of the rare anti-Trump voices to face the chopping block in 2018. Hill, a political analyst, was fired by CNN after making remarks in a speech to the U.N. that many took to be anti-Semitic. Hill, speaking about the Israel-Palestine conflict, called for “a free Palestine from the river to the sea.” Critics pointed out that sentiment is one that has been endorsed by terrorist organizations like Hamas, and the ensuing backlash ended with Hill getting fired by CNN. He apologized and insisted his comments were not intended to be anti-Semitic.

Watch Hill battle fellow list honoree Ed Martin above, over whether Trump kissing black babies makes him not racist.

Honorable mentions: the ones that got away.

While above we listed the talking heads who were fired or resigned, a number of hosts, contributors, analysts, and guests managed to survive the year despite weathering scandals. They include MSNBC’s Joy Reid (who absurdly claimed her old blog was hacked after homophobic posts were unearthed from it); Fox News’s Laura Ingraham (who mocked a school shooting survivor and faced a devastating advertiser boycott); Fox News guest Corey Lewandowski (who mocked a child with down syndrome by saying “womp womp”); MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski (who called Secretary of State Pompeo a “wannabe dictator’s butt boy”).

We’re certain we missed someone, so please drop your favorite disgraced pundit in the comments section. Here’s to another year of televised talking!