Say what you like about today’s Senate hearings on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh—that they’re draining, that they reveal an endemic and institutional distrust in this country of women, that they put Ted Cruz’s depressing Droopy Dog face back on TV for yet another unnecessary minute—but at least they’re proving to be a remarkably efficient way of outing some of our society’s least subtle assholes. Case in point: Now-former Fox News commentator Kevin Jackson, who managed to successfully find the line that not even his employers would be willing to cross in regards to attacking women willing to stand up to powerful men, specifically with some of his Twitter commentary today about Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.
And while Jackson—also a radio host—didn’t manage to actually raise the bar for public misogyny with his comments about Ford (this is America, so that sucker is pretty god damn high as is) he did at least manage to smack his face into the underside of it, repeatedly, referring to Ford—who has accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her in 1982—as a “lying skank,” and suggesting that she should “close her legs and open a book,” and Jesus Christ, this fucking guy.
That appears to be Fox News’ take on the situation, too, as the company issued a statement today making it clear that “Kevin Jackson has been terminated as a contributor,” and that “His comments on today’s hearings were reprehensible and do not reflect the values of FOX News.” The network is presumably now casting around for someone capable of expressing their unease at the idea of female autonomy in the more gentle, chipperly smiling form to which its viewers are accustomed.