Fox Business abruptly cancels Lou Dobbs’ show after Smartmatic trial.

Fox Business has decided to no longer air its top rated show. And he canceled with little warning by announcing Friday that from next week Lou Dobbs will no longer have his weekday show, which had a larger audience than rival CNBC. Dobbs, one of former President Donald Trump’s strongest supporters in the media, had spent a lot of time on his show extolling the electoral fraud lies that remain popular among some allies in the previous administration. Even as many began to tone down their language, Dobbs continued to attack Republican Party leaders for their lack of support for Trump.

Dobbs didn’t have a chance to say goodbye to his on-air viewers when Fox News Media made the announcement on Friday, when a guest host replaced him. Dobbs is still under contract with Fox News and while he has appeared on Fox News on occasion as an expert, he is unlikely to reappear on company networks, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Dobbs Show, Lou Dobbs tonight, airs twice each night at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. EST. From next week the show will be called Fox Business tonight. The Dobbs show was canceled a day after election technology company Smartmatic filed a libel suit against Fox Corporation and Fox News, seeking at least $ 2.7 billion in damages. The lawsuit specifically names Dobbs along with two other Fox anchors, Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro, and accuses them of spreading lies about the company’s role in the election. Dobbs, according to the lawsuit, was “one of the main supporters” of a “disinformation campaign” against Smartmatic.

Despite the timing, network sources tell several outlets that the network had already planned to cancel Dobbs ahead of trial. Officially, Fox News says it is maintaining its coverage and will defend itself against the lawsuit. “As we said in October, Fox News Media regularly considers programming changes and plans have been put in place to launch new formats where appropriate after the election, including on Fox Business,” a door said. -speak in a press release. “It’s part of those planned changes.” Even though he had a highly rated show, it struggled to attract advertisers because companies didn’t want to be associated with the far-right views Dobbs espoused on his show. This weakness with advertisers was also a reason to deny the Dobbs show, according to CNN.

Shortly after announcing Dobbs’ cancellation, Trump expressed support for what was one of the first statements he issued since leaving the White House. “Lou Dobbs is and was awesome,” Trump said. “No one loves America more than Lou. He had a large and loyal following who will be watching his next move closely, and this next one includes me. Dobbs thanked Trump for his support and retweeted several allies who criticized Fox for cancellation.