David Elliott, a veteran news anchor, said he was fired over social media posts in which he said Vice President Kamala Harris' supporters should stay home on Election Day.
Elliott, who has worked at the Biloxi, Mississippi-based WLOX-TV since 1985, announced on Friday that the news station fired him over his political views in a post to Facebook.
"I'm no longer at Wlox as of 10-25-24. The corporation doesn't like my political views," Elliott wrote.
The firing comes after he posted a video to X, formerly Twitter, urging supporters of Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee who is running against former President Donald Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, to stay home, rather than vote for her in the polls. The race remains a toss-up, with polls showing a tight race nationally and in key battlegrounds.
Mississippi, however, is a Republican-leaning state that Trump is expected to easily carry this year.
"This is so unlike me because I'm usually a vote, vote, vote guy," Elliott said in his X video. "I'd like to see 100 percent voter turnout, whether it's for your local sheriff or the president of the United States. But if your hatred for Donald Trump is so strong—that's kind of a sickness by the way—but if it's so strong that you're planning to go in that voting booth and vote for Kamala Harris—do you listen to her?"
He added: "Do you know anything about her? Anyway, do yourself, do the country, do the world a favor and just sit it out. Stay home. Don't vote."
WLOX has not issued a statement about the decision to fire Elliott. News organizations typically prohibit journalists from endorsing candidates online, regardless of which party they may personally support. WLOX does not have a public page outlining their policies on neutrality.
Newsweek has reached out to Elliott via Facebook message and WLOX via email for comment on Monday.
He told the Sun Herald, a Biloxi-based newspaper, that social media was brought up in the conversation about his firing, but that he "was like, 'OK, see ya.'" He added that the conversation only lasted about 30 seconds because he left.
"I was going to leave at the end of the year, anyway," Elliott told the newspaper. "I have irons in the fire. Things are going to move at the speed of light. Keep your eyes open."
He added that his posts are satire and that he does not view social media as part of his job.
"I don't consider social media journalism. Social media is a toy. I have fun. I play. I look at it as satire," Elliott said.
In a separate post to Facebook on Sunday, he wrote there is "purposefully no Wlox branding or imagery on my X or TikTok pages. I'm trying to reach people who don't know me, don't know where I work or what I do for a living. A tech expert told me in order to juice up the algorithms and build an audience you have say 'offbeat' (controversial) things. It's been working. He also told me 'Be ready for some haters' OH BOY. There are a lot of keypad warriors out there. I do have a life outside of a television station."
English (US) ·