It’s Official: Roger Friedman Loses His Job Over Wolverine Piracy
Roger Friedman, a showbiz columnist for FoxNews.com, failed to persuade Fox News head Roger Ailes that he should keep his job after downloading a pirated copy of Wolverine and angering 20th Century Fox studio executives.
As Fox called in the FBI to find out who had leaked the film onto the Internet, Friedman posted a column last Thursday marvelling at how easy it was to find a copy of the purloined Hugh Jackman comic book film online. The column was quickly removed Over the weekend, reports emerged that he had been fired and corporate P.R. even released a statement on Sunday saying that the columnist was toast.
But that was a bit premature, and Ailes gave Friedman the chance to come in and tell him and Fox News executive vice president John Moody why he shouldn’t be fired. That meeting was supposed to take place this morning, but got pushed back to the afternoon.
Why go through all the bother? Our guess is that, as ridiculous as it might sound, corporate politics were to blame. Power at News Corp. is in flux now that Rupert Murdoch’s deputy Peter Chernin has announced his exit. And some of the big winners in the corporate restructurings so far have been the heads of the Fox movie studio, Tom Rothman and Jim Gianopoulos. No matter how inevitable Friedman’s exit may have been, it wouldn’t be surprising if Ailes bristled at the idea of movie studio people making hiring-and-firing decisions in his cable news outfit.
So, Friedman got his day in kangaroo court. And lost. Here’s the official statement from Fox News:
Fox News representatives and Roger Friedman met today and mutually agreed to part ways immediately. Fox News appreciates Mr. Friedman’s ten years of contributions to building foxnews.com and wishes him success in his future endeavours. Mr. Friedman is grateful to his colleagues for their friendship and support over the past decade.
- Next Post: YouTube Clip Of The Day »
- « Previous Post: ‘Would You Be Willing To Have Unsimulated Intercourse On Screen?’
Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
"I'm telling you Fox, it's not all my fault. Hugh Jackman came over with a bottle of wine, starting giving me a back rub and then says we should Google his new movie and see what happens. Could anyone resist that?"
BullfightsOnAcid
The internets are so fast! The NYT printed this story a mere 24 hours ago.
WretchedGnu
I'm just wondering if he was ever able to give a 20th Century Fox movie a bad review.
robotwaste
They just hate him 'cause he's beautiful.
Mr. Friedman wishes 20th Century Fox well there in the 20th Century.
I hope this teaches kids to just ask for a screener copy from the corporate conglomerate they work for.
AvenueOfTheStrongest
@WretchedGnu: About a meeting that happened today, and the official confirmation this afternoon? Wow, they were psychic!
@Baroness: LOL. Well played.
LOL..what was this guy thinking?? He deserves to be canned..
roger got rogered by a roger
Apparently they asked him to leave his eyeballs.
I went from the picture to more, more, more - of women like that in superhero costumes. Forget politics, forget book and movie reviews, join the 21st century. I never read comics but i know a winning horse when i see one: masturbatintg 12 year old boys and Lara Croft Catwomen Isis etc - doing naughty things. I'm telling y'all this as a friend, honestly.
moraliste
Why wasn't the editor who approved the story fired? This guy, while a rotund jackass, shouldn't have been fired. Someone had to approve the story to run.
Maybe they were just looking for any excuse to fire him...
MrDecember
My bad. Whose this Friedman anyway? Must find color printer now. Spidergirl.
moraliste
@Pope John Peeps II: "What's your vector Victor?"
Roger Friedman is the only thing I have ever liked about foxnews.com. Maybe they are getting rid of him because he isn't a conservative ideologue. He is a little too zealous in his hatred of the National Board of Review and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but he is hipper than Liz Smith. Maybe she can give him a job. I hope he lands on his feet.
im my mindless exploration of the drudge report every day, that more people than not would admit to looking at for a generic snapshot of what is going on out there, my guilty pleasure was always reading this guy's column. however tawdry at times that subject matter was, he always gave a shout out to the unsung, and certainly undercompensated figure of the music world.....sad to see him go.....guess i have not a single reason to look at FOX news again.....
Christopher Maguire
@formerly it takes a lot to laugh: When are they going to update that?
Paul_Is_Drunk
So he works for FOX and it was a FOX film he reviewed. Anyone know if the review was good or bad?
HwoodHills
Wait a minute....wasn't that press release pirated from Shostakovich's denunciation-cum-mea-culpa?
SteveManiac
Wow, axing someone for being a loyal employee and breaking news. But you wouldn't know anything about that, would you, Gabe? No, not much at all.
Just shut up already and stop publishing Nick's emails under your name. Prick.
@Baroness: Well golly I didn't mean to jump to any conclusions! The headline here reads "It's Official: Roger Friedman Loses His Job Over Wolverine Piracy" -- which was exactly the breaking news NTY reported a microage ago.
WretchedGnu
They called Howard Stern a lot too - he was talking about how he'd watch the bootleg copy on his show - and I guess the studio went gaga with fear. Interesting.
TroisFilles
He looks fried, man.
julia roberts strikes again
Now, can someone plant a bootlegged copy of "Star Trek" on Glenn Beck's computer. Thanks.
jbk
@HwoodHills: Actually, he raved about it. Don't fancy the trailers much, me.
regisgoat
@SteveManiac: Well, you certainly raised the intellectual tone around here for a few moments.
regisgoat
"Fox News representatives and Roger Friedman met today and mutually agreed to part ways immediately. Fox News appreciates Mr. Friedman's ten years of contributions to building foxnews.com and wishes him success in his future endeavors. Mr. Friedman is grateful to his colleagues for their friendship and support over the past decade."
Oh please, what is this, the 80's? I can't believe that in a time filled with cynicism, those corporate PR assholes are still trying to portray big corporations as an understanding and compassionate entity.
Seriously, who are the people supposed to read this message? Who's gonna read it and go "Awww...so sad...but I'm glad to learn they both parted ways happily!"
Just say "we f*cking fired him, period". At least I'll say "blunt...but honest".
@Paul_Is_Drunk: I know a guy who knows the guy who sold them the phrase "21st Century Fox" for 7-figures.
Scout 3.0
Journalist finds thing out, writes about it, gets sacked.
Cool.
hackcyn
Dear 20th Century Fox,
The problem isn't the internet, its your internal process.
Love always,
The World
PS. That rough cut of Star Trek we downloaded from the Pirate Bay looks FABULOUS!
I blame Scientology.
NotReadyForPrimeTime