Fox News turns down national ad for anti-Nazi documentary, calling imagery 'disgraceful'

The CEO of Fox News rejected a 30-second advertisement warning about the dangers of fascism, saying it was inappropriate, The Hollywood Reporter revealed Wednesday.

The ad, titled "It Can Happen Here," is for the Academy Award-nominated documentary short A Night at the Garden, featuring footage shot during a 1939 pro-Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden. Originally, the ad was going to run locally in Los Angeles during Sean Hannity's show Monday night, but instead the network aired President Trump's rally in El Paso. Field of Vision, the documentary's distributor, then tried to buy a national spot during Hannity, but Fox News — which controls national advertising, not local ads — said no.

In an email to Field of Vision's media-buying agency, an ad sales representative said the decision was made by Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott, who said it was "inappropriate for our air," The Hollywood Reporter says. In a statement to The Week, Marianne Gambelli, president for ad sales at Fox News, said the "ad in question is full of disgraceful Nazi imagery regardless of the film's message and did not meet our guidelines."

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A Night at the Garden director Marshall Curry told The Hollywood Reporter the film "shines a light on a time when thousands of Americans fell under the spell of a demagogue who attacked the press and scapegoated minorities using the symbols of American patriotism. It's amazing to me that the CEO of Fox News would personally inject herself into a small ad buy just to make sure that Hannity viewers weren't exposed to this chapter of American history."