Fox News Denies Donald Trump’s Claim That ‘a Couple of People From Fox’ Wrote Jokes for His Al Smith Dinner Speech
Fox News said no employee of or freelancer for the network penned jokes for former president Donald Trump’s speech at Thursday night’s Al Smith Dinner fundraiser — contrary to claims Trump made on the network’s air Friday morning.
In an Oct. 18 appearance on “Fox & Friends,” show host Steve Doocy commented to Trump, “Your material is real funny, who wrote it?” (via Mediaite). Trump replied, “Well, I’ve had a lot of people helping, a lot of people. A couple of people from Fox, actually — I shouldn’t say that, but they wrote some jokes, and for the most part, I didn’t like any of them.”
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But Fox News said that’s false. “Fox News confirmed that no employee or freelancer wrote the jokes” for Trump, a spokesperson for the network said in a statement to Variety.
Trump did receive several jokes for the event that were written by comedian Nick Di Paolo, who is an occasional contributor to Fox News primetime show “Gutfeld!”, but Di Paolo is not an employee or contract freelancer for the cable network.
At the Al Smith event, Trump’s speech included jabs at VP Kamala Harris (such as “She’s in Michigan receiving communion from Gretchen Whitmer“ — and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (“Unfortunately, Governor Walz isn’t here himself. But don’t worry, he’ll say that he was”), per Mediaite.
Harris did not attend the Al Smith Dinner but her campaign provided a video clip shown to attendees, featuring “Saturday Night Live” former cast member Molly Shannon reprising her role as Mary Katherine Gallagher.
The Al Smith Dinner, an annual event in New York City that has historically been attended by U.S. presidential nominees, raises money for Catholic charities in the Archdiocese of New York.
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