“I recognize that this segment needs to be reworked to provide better context, and as such, we are delaying the episode’s broadcast for a week,” Bolling said in a statement posted to his Twitter account on Saturday afternoon.
Fauci has recently spoken of becoming the target of death threats for his public comments on the coronavirus pandemic, which often contradict the policies of President Donald Trump and his administration.
Media Matters reported that Bolling presented the prerecorded interview by referring to Mikovits as “an expert in virology” and someone who had previously worked with Fauci. In the interview, Bolling spoke to Mikovits and his lawyer, Larry Klayman, about “Plandemic” and his plans to sue Fauci.
Bolling also spoke to Fox News medical collaborator Dr. Nicole Saphier in response to Mikovits’ claims. Saphir noted that it was “highly unlikely” that Fauci was to blame for the pandemic, and then she and Bolling weighed up other theories about how the virus spread and escalated.
Before making the decision to delay the episode, both Bolling and Sinclair said that while they allowed the segment to run, they in no way endorsed the documentary or its message.
“I have always welcomed every point on my show and have always championed freedom of expression in my 15 years in the media,” said Bolling. “In this case, it is true that some of Dr. Mikovits’ statements took me by surprise. At no time did I agree with her. Also, I brought in another doctor to debunk the theories she put forward. I repeat: I do not agree with Dr. Mikovits. “
In his announcement that this week’s segment would be delayed, Bolling added that he has “immense respect for Dr. Fauci” and sees him as “the leading expert on this topic.” He also said that he has tried to include Fauci in his program to talk about Covid-19 and that the invitation still stands.
“After further review, we have decided to delay the broadcast of this episode,” Sinclair said in a statement Saturday. “We will spend the next few days gathering other views and providing additional context. All stations have been notified not to broadcast this and will instead recast last week’s episode instead.”
