Reporters Act Stupidly, Clutch Pearls After Fox News' Kennedy Calls Brian Stelter 'Tater' During Broadcast

Did you hear the news? Fox News’ Kennedy called Brian Stelter “Tater” on Tuesday and we should all be outraged about it, because unlike CNN and MSNBC, pretty much everyone else in America should show reverence and respect to the same guy who equates conservatives to nutjobs and terrorists on an almost-daily basis.

Mediaite was one of several news sites that did write-ups about the horrific moment when the Fox Business Network anchor “lobbed personal insults” by saying “Tater’s gonna tater” on Tuesday’s “Outnumbered” broadcast:

On Tuesday, the Fox talk show held a segment on personal attacks the media aims at conservatives. The grievances included a Washington Post cartoon that depicted President Donald Trump’s backers in his attempt to overturn the election as rats. The segment also took issue with Stelter’s Reliable Sources monologue arguing that right wing media is furthering “radicalization” of the country.

Lawrence Jones called the commentary “disgusting”, and Emily Compagno argued that Joe Biden’s calls for national reconciliation are hollow words from the president-elect. Kennedy added that free speech must be protected no matter how “abhorrent, simplistic, overly busy, unreadable,” or “unpopular” it might be …

She then committed the grave sin of insulting Stelter in response to his comparison of Republicans to ISIS terrorists. “I’m going to steal a line from [right wing commentator] Stephen Miller,” she said. “Tater’s gonna tater. He might be the most unsophisticated analyst in the history of media analysis. He’s not just ham-fisted, he’s ham-headed.”

Watch:

Clarification: The transcript had "despicable" but Kennedy actually calls him the "most unsophisticated" media analyst in history.

— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) December 22, 2020

Baragona also rushed to put up a report at the left-wing website The Daily Beast because of course he did:

Fox News host Lisa “Kennedy” Montgomery personally insulted CNN media analyst Brian Stelter’s appearance during a Tuesday afternoon segment complaining about mainstream media being mean to conservatives, calling the Reliable Sources host “ham-headed” and comparing him to a potato.

WaPo media reporter Jeremy Barr even got in on the pearl-clutching:

Brian Stelter doesn't need defending, but I'm surprised that Fox News leaders put up with the schoolyard bullying by its hosts. I know Sean Hannity thinks it's v funny to call him "humpty dumpty," and for Tucker Carlson to send donuts as a fat joke, but .. https://t.co/FBOEgprGmd

— Jeremy Barr (@jeremymbarr) December 22, 2020

Our own Brad Slager called Barr out on his response. “This is what happens when you aspire to become the next Brian Stelter,” he tweeted.

Stelter himself pretended to be above it all, first by posting this:

Merry Christmas to you and your family, @KennedyNation https://t.co/BPHPqA0KOl

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) December 22, 2020

… and then this:

A+ headline: "Fox News Complains About Media Being Mean to Conservatives, Then Compares CNN Host to a Potato" https://t.co/uMrHFX5V9G

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) December 22, 2020

While calling him “Tater”, as many conservatives including some of my colleagues here do from time to time, is not my thing (nor is it Miller’s, as he later clarified), forgive me for not joining the fauxtrage chorus over this one. When you spend hours on Twitter and on live TV each week warning about how Fox News is allegedly “radicalizing” millions of viewers and turning them into seething Democrat-hating terrorists and mass murderers while simultaneously calling Antifa/BLM rioters “peaceful protesters”, you really don’t get to complain about it when the tables get turned, nor do you really deserve the white-knight treatment from industry colleagues.

But he got it anyway because there’s nothing non-Fox News media outlets love to do more (outside of undermining President Trump) than to try and discredit the network that leaves them in the dust. It’s all very stupid and so very much 2020. Sadly, things on the media front won’t get any better next year. But, Lord-willing, there will still be plenty of media analysts around to call them out over it (thank you very much ;)).