Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade has called for Vanity Fair staff to identify and fire colleagues who anonymously complained about the possibility of the magazine featuring Melania Trump on its cover. Kilmeade said those employees "should be fired" and urged staff to "walk around and look for a mid-level editor that sounds angry, and toss them out."
Co-host Ainsley Earhardt declared she would buy multiple copies of the magazine if it gave the first lady a cover feature, adding that she would want the magazine's "stock to go up" if it were willing to "tell both sides." She noted that Michelle Obama, Jill Biden, and Hillary Clinton had appeared on Vogue covers, but Melania Trump had not been featured after becoming first lady.
The controversy follows a report from Semafor that new Vanity Fair editor Mark Guiducci is considering putting Melania Trump on the cover as part of a shift towards more conservative figures. The Daily Mail reported that staff erupted "in fury" over the proposed cover, with one editor vowing to quit and claiming half the staff would follow.
Fox & Friends co-host Charlie Hurt suggested the leak was intentional to "soften up the opposition." Kilmeade's comments were met with laughter from his co-hosts as he suggested the disgruntled employee might not even be hired by Trader Joe's "because they have standards."
