‘Sad Day’: Dan Bongino Leaves Fox News, Effective Immediately

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 21: Dan Bongino speaks onstage during Politicon 2018 at Los Angeles Convention Center on October 21, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Politicon

Dan Bongino, the nationally syndicated radio and podcast host, confirmed Thursday that he is departing Fox News, effective immediately.

Bongino made the announcement during an episode of his podcast, saying that he has no issues with the network. However, recent negotiations over his contract had come up short, leading to the departure.

Before leaving, Bongino had hosted a weekly Saturday show on Fox News called “Unfiltered,” while he also had a show called “Canceled in the USA” on Fox Nation. The final episode of Bongino’s Saturday night show aired on April 15.

“The show ending last week was tough. It’s not some big conspiracy theory, I promise you. There’s no acrimony,” Bongino said Thursday. “We just couldn’t come to terms on an extension. That’s really it.” He added: “I really enjoyed myself there. They were good for me for ten years.”

“It’s a sad day. They did give me the opportunity to do one last show, I don’t want you to think they showed me the door,“ he continued to say. ”That’s on me, not on them, but I thought it was best to go this way for now.”

During the podcast episode, he said that his departure was not due to the recent lawsuit that Fox News had just settled earlier this week. “The timing’s not great,” he conceded.

Bongino added that his Saturday show was among the highest-rated programs in that time slot on cable television.

“We were the number one show 90 percent of the time,” Bongino told his listeners Thursday. “We had a great team,“ he said, adding: ”This wasn’t some WWE brawl that happened. We just couldn’t come to terms on an extension.”

Describing his tenure at Fox, the network “allowed [him] to do a show called ‘Unfiltered,’ did what we wanted to do over there and covered the topics we wanted to cover,” he added. “And it’s a sad day. It’s a sad day.”

In a statement to news outlets, Fox News said, “We thank Dan for his contributions and wish him success in his future endeavors.” The company did not explain why it was parting ways with Bongino, who was a former New York City Police Department official and U.S. Secret Service agent before entering the media business.

In 2006, Bongino joined the Presidential Protective Division of former President George W. Bush’s administration. He also served on the team that provided protection to former President Barack Obama.

He has also hosted a number of popular syndicated radio programs, and his show was used to replace the one that was hosted by Rush Limbaugh, who died in early 2021. His one-hour long radio show for Westwood One also was distributed via the Fox Nation subscription service.

Other than those endeavors, he also hosts his own website, Bonginoreport.com, and hosts a show on Rumble.

“So the Fox Nation show—for the radio show: I will have some updates on that. I think that’s going to end at the end of the month, and we‘ll have some updates on that. We’ll have some options for that, too,” Bongino also said Thursday.

“Unfiltered” generated some 1,179,000 viewers on April 15 during the final episode. About 93,000 were in the 25-54 age demographic that is coveted by advertisers, according to Nielsen data.

Fox News also recently proclaimed in a news release that Bongino’s show was the No. 1 program in the weekend primetime category, averaging 1.3 million viewers. Of that figure, 134,000 were in the 25-54 demographic.

Fox will now air “Lawrence Jones Cross Country” in place of Bongino’s program starting this Saturday. A new schedule will be announced in the “coming weeks,” said the statement, issued to Forbes magazine.

Fox News said in a statement, “We thank Dan for his contributions and wish him success in his future endeavors.”