Veteran Fox News anchor and Trump target Neil Cavuto is calling it quits after 3 decades at the network

New York
CNN
—

Veteran Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto, one of the network’s longest-serving hosts who became a frequent target of President-elect Donald Trump, is leaving the network after nearly three decades on the air.

Cavuto announced Thursday on his afternoon program “Your World,” saying he had planned to leave for “a while” but that he “is not leaving journalism. I’m just leaving here.”

“I gotta do what I love to do, report the news. Don’t shout news, don’t blow news. Don’t call names, just call balls and strikes, follow the news, keep truth to power and justice for all. That’s it, it is me,” Cavuto said.

Cavuto began as an anchor at Fox News when it launched in 1996, jumping from CNBC to the burgeoning right-wing network founded by Rupert Murdoch. At the time of his sign-off, he was hosting about 12 hours each week across the Fox Business and Fox News channels.

Cavuto said he had been “offered a very generous opportunity for me to stay several years.” According to a person familiar with the matter, Cavuto was offered a contract extension, but at a lower salary, and he turned it down.

In recent years, the folksy Cavuto has stood out as one of the few remaining Fox News anchors willing to vigorously fact-check and even criticize Trump. Being a corporate news anchor at heart, he felt it was his role to separate fact from fiction, especially when financial decisions were at stake.

But Cavuto’s emphasis on what was true — versus what the Trump base wanted to be true — cost him viewers. Some Trump fans never forgave him after he cut off a 2020 press conference by then-White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany because McEnany repeated baseless allegations of voter fraud.

Trump, channeling the sentiments of some Fox viewers, celebrated Cavuto’s departure Thursday.

“GOOD NEWS FOR AMERICA! Neil Cavuto, the lowest rated anchor on Fox, is leaving by far – Should have happened a long time ago!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

But many others praised Cavuto, especially on his last broadcast.

“I’ve always admired you, you call balls and strikes, you’re not a ‘yes man’ it’s an honor to be on display,” said The Hill editor-in-chief Bob Cusack.

“Bravo Neil Cavuto on 3 great decades at Fox News. Fair and balanced in reality, Neil was never left out,” former Fox News anchor Geraldo Rivera wrote on X. “Even in the age of Trump, when it would have been easy, he was a truth teller. He angered the ideologues but never backed down.”

Cavuto also thanked Fox for sticking with him through his many health issues, including multiple sclerosis, open heart surgery and being hospitalized for several weeks with a severe case of Covid-19.