By Xinming Li, bostonese.com
San Jose, August 5, 2015, — As Fox News Channel hosts the first major debate of 10 Republican candidates of the 2016 Presidential election this week, Bob Beckel, the controversial co-host of The Five, will not be on air to share the spotlight. Fox News channel fired Bob Beckel back in late June 2015 after repeated protests by Chinese American groups for the “Chinaman” racial slur Beckel unleashed on air in July last year. Beckel hasn’t been on air since February 2015 due to health reasons.
In a statement to TVNewser in June 2015, Bill Shine, executive vice president of programming for Fox News, stated: “We tried to work with Bob for months, but we couldn’t hold The Five hostage to one man’s personal issues. He took tremendous advantage of our generosity, empathy and goodwill and we simply came to the end of the road with him. Juan Williams and Geraldo Rivera will be among those rotating on the show for the near future.”
Beckel responded to the statement on Twitter: “I am no longer on The Five or with Fox. Fox statement today baffles me. I will respond in the appropriate forum. I will miss you all. I just can’t understand the anger in Fox statement. I was healing from major back surgery i could not walk, I took no advantage I got well.”
A protest against Bob Beckel was held in front of San Jose City Hall on July 29, 2014. San Jose Councilmember Kansen Chu stated: “To attack one immigrant group is to attack all immigrant groups. And attacking on the basis of ethnicity, religion, gender, and language is never acceptable. The remarks made by Beckel do not only offend the Chinese immigrant population, but also the immigrant population that makes up Silicon Valley. The United States is a country of immigrants, a land of opportunity, and in the past has offered refuge to those fleeing their homeland across the world.”
Councilmember Chu came to the United Sates in 1976 from Taiwan to pursue a degree in engineering at California State University, Northridge. Upon receiving his Masters degree, he worked as an engineer at IBM for 18 years before becoming a small business owner and school board member.