Fox News fires Bob Beckel over alleged ‘insensitive’ remark to African-American staffer

Fox News fired former Democratic strategist Bob Beckel Friday for allegedly making an inappropriate remark to an African-American employee, The Hill has confirmed.

“HR was informed of the incident on Tuesday evening and did a thorough investigation within 48 hours,” a source familar with the matter tells The Hill. “The network came to a decision that Bob needed to be terminated early this morning.”

Beckel was co-host of “The Five,” a roundtable opinion program that recently moved from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. amid the scheduling shake-up following host Bill O’Reilly’s firing over sexual harassment allegations.

It’s not clear what the alleged remark was, but Fox said in a statement to Variety that Beckel’s words were “insensitive.”

In 2014, Beckel apologized for making a racist slur against Asians on air.

Beckel’s firing comes as Fox faces a racial discrimination lawsuit from African-American employees.  

Beckel has now been terminated from Fox News twice. In 2015, the former campaign manager for Walter Mondale’s failed run against Ronald Reagan in 1984 was fired due to “personal issues” after being in rehab for months because of an addiction to painkillers.

Juan Williams, a contributing columnist for the Hill, has served as Beckel’s backup at “The Five” and will fill his role on the program for now, a Fox News spokesperson confirmed to The Hill.

The Hill has reached out to Beckel for comment.