Wash. Post Reporter: “It's Pretty Remarkable” That Cable News Channels Have Shunned Trump Ally Roger Stone

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

A Washington Post reporter said it's “remarkable” that Trump ally Roger Stone has been “blacklisted” from two major cable news channels over his history of sexist and racially offensive comments. 

Roger Stone -- a notorious "dirty trickster" -- has a terrible track record of violent, sexist remarks against the Clintons, racist tweets, and dedicating a book he co-wrote to a Holocaust denier. In February, CNN banned Stone from appearing as a guest, following his series of incendiary tweets against the network's personalities. MSNBC has also banned Stone from their network, something Stone blamed Media Matters for. 

In an April 7 blog post for the Washington Post's The Fix, Callum Borchers wrote, “it's pretty remarkable” that Stone, a vocal Trump ally with a “regular television presence,” has been banned from major cable news networks. Borchers noted that Stone still appears as a guest on Fox News:

With many big-name conservative commentators vigorously opposed to -- or, at least, highly skeptical of -- Donald Trump, cable news channels have looked to the end of the bench for articulate, telegenic supporters of the Republican presidential front-runner.

[...]

A good Trump surrogate -- or at least one who won't send a TV segment careening off the rails -- can be hard to find. Media outlets aren't really in a position to scratch names off an already-short list.

So it's pretty remarkable that two of the three major cable news channels have blacklisted Roger Stone, the veteran Republican strategist who is one of Trump's most vocal allies and who had been a regular television presence.

CNN banned Stone in February, after he tweeted sexist, racist comments about two of the network's on-air personalities. On Monday, MSNBC edited out a Stone interview that was part of that day's episode of “With All Due Respect,” a weekday program that airs earlier on Bloomberg TV. The Stone interview was included in Bloomberg's broadcast but cut from MSNBC's. The liberal press watchdog group Media Matters was first to flag the edit.

An MSNBC spokesman said in an email to The Fix that “Roger Stone will not be a guest on MSNBC because of his now very well-known offensive comments.”

Fox News Channel has not banned Stone, according to a spokeswoman; he was a guest on “Mornings with Maria” on Fox Business Network on Monday. The Washington Post also does not have a policy against quoting Stone.

[...]

Now two cable news channels have decided to run him off their air. The search for Trump backers who are suitable for television continues.