Filmmaker Judd Apatow is continuing to call for the entertainment industry’s creative community to apply pressure to Fox News’ corporate parent amid backlash to the news channel’s recent coverage.
Apatow took to Twitter early Thursday morning to criticize executives Lachlan and James Murdoch, the sons of 21st Century Fox founder Rupert Murdoch. Quoting a video posted by the Twitter account for “The Daily Show” mocking Fox News’ coverage of the migrant caravan moving through South America, Apatow wrote, “This is the work of Lachlan and James Murdoch. Here in Hollywood we see them at parties and everyone kisses their asses because they are a job source and they ignore the hate and division they sow in this country. Maybe find someone else to sell your shows to.”
Apatow’s tweet came a day after “Modern Family” co-creator Steve Levitan told Variety that he would not work with Fox Broadcasting again so long as as Fox News remains “a destructive voice” in society. On Thursday, Lachlan Murdoch was asked by reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin at the New York Times’ Dealbook conference about Levitan’s comments. “I completely understand this,” Murdoch responded. “He feels the anger and intolerance of opinions that we’re seeing across all of our communities in America.”
Murdoch is set to serve as CEO of New Fox, the company that will be spun out of Disney’s pending acquisition of the bulk of 21st Century Fox. His brother James Murdoch is expected to leave his current executive post at Fox.