Fox News has canceled the show of Lou Dobbs, who is considered the most ardent supporters of former US President Donald Trump, AFP reports.
The decision on Friday came a day after Fox News and Dobbs were sued for defamation by voting technology firm Smartmatic, which is claiming $2.7 billion in losses from the network for promoting false claims that the company was involved in fraud in November's presidential election.
"As we said in October, Fox News Media regularly considers programming changes and plans have been in place to launch new formats as appropriate post-election, including on Fox Business," a Fox News spokesperson told AFP.
The spokesperson added that the cancellation of Lou Dobbs Tonight "is part of those planned changes. A new 5:00 p.m. program will be announced in the near future."
The decision to cancel Dobbs’ show came after Fox Newsbegan airing a point-by-point fact-check to election fraud claims made by some of the network’s hosts. The package began airing after Smartmatic sent Fox News a blistering legal threat that accused the network of participating in a "disinformation campaign" against it.
Dobbs' show had the highest viewership on Fox News' affiliate channel, averaging more than 300,000 viewers every night.
The 75-year-old had been presenting for almost four decades, including 10 years on the Lou Dobbs Tonight show.
Trump said in a statement following the decision, "Lou Dobbs is and was great. Nobody loves America more than Lou. He had a large and loyal following that will be watching closely for his next move, and that following includes me."