UPDATE: In a subsequent post on her blog, Bruce wrote that she was being snarky and sarcastic in her tweet and defended Fox for being “willing to hire an openly gay women before anyone else in television.” She added that she had been told she would never guest host O'Reilly because of her sexual orientation by “a friend of mine” and that she has “never even asked to host the Factor (or any other show at Fox), and no one at Fox ever told me I couldn't.”

ORIGINAL POST:

Longtime Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce tweeted yesterday that she's been told she'll never guest host The O'Reilly Factor because she's gay. Bruce did not specify whether she had received that message from the network's personnel, but replied favorably to a fan who responded to her tweet by criticizing the network.

Bruce is a conservative radio show host who regularly appears on The O'Reilly Factor with host Bill O'Reilly. According to Nexis, Bruce most recently appeared on the program's April 6 broadcast with guest host Juan Williams.

Bruce is openly gay, a fact she's noted on The O'Reilly Factor. A biography posted on WMAL, which carried her radio show (the program now streams “exclusively at TalkStreamLive”), states that when her radio show “debuted in Los Angeles in 1993, she was the first openly gay woman in the country to host a show on a mainstream talk radio station.”

Bruce's comments came in response to a follower who told her she needs “to fill in for O'Reilly sometime.” Bruce replied: “I'd love to fill in for O'Reilly, but I've been told it will never happen because I'm gay. Go figure...”

Several followers responded to Bruce's tweet with criticism of Fox. One follower tweeted: “Tammy, so sorry to hear that! You've always been an intelligent and thoughtful commentator. Bad on Fox :-)” Bruce replied: “Thanks @gutsy9 I appreciate the support :)”

Messages to Bruce seeking clarification and comment were not returned. Fox News also did not return a request for comment by posting time.