Josh Fox, creator of the “Gasland” films, has been playing up on Twitter that he got kicked off the Fox Business show Varney & Co. after a heated debate with the show’s host on the EPA’s hydraulic fracturing report.
Fox and his supporters claimed he was kicked off the Fox show for schooling its host Stuart Varney in a fracking debate. Fox claims Varney kicked him off the show after being “confronted with the truth on fracking.”
Just did outrageous @foxbusiness segment on @epa with blowhard @Varneyco who kicks me off after confronted with the truth on #fracking #liar
— Josh Fox (@gaslandmovie) June 8, 2015
kicked off of @FoxBusiness by @Varneyco for calling out fracking hypocrisy http://t.co/EDn2PlXkDS @FrackAction @MarkRuffalo @billmckibben — Josh Fox (@gaslandmovie) June 8, 2015
But Fox’s claim of being kicked off Fox Business for beating them down with facts is very far from the truth. The Daily Caller News Foundation watched the entire (nearly five minute) Fox Business clip and noticed Fox is not kicked off until he calls Varney a “liar.”
Varney, who owns property that sits atop the Marcellus Shale formation, told Fox that people were saying they could light their tap water on fire 12 years ago — well before fracking was occurring in the shale. Fox responded by calling Varney a “liar.”
WATCH:
“I bought it 12 years ago, way before fracking was being talked about,” Varney said while Fox was trying to talk over him. Fox asked him why he said he wouldn’t frack on his own property, to which Varney then replied he was on the watershed.
“When I bought it twelve years ago, it was a joke in the area — this is way before fracking appeared. It was a joke in the area that if you turned the tap on you could light the water.”
“Listen brother, that is absolutely not true…” Fox responded. “I am your neighbor.”
“Interesting that I’m wrong about lighting the tap water before fracking ever appeared,” Varney said.
“You are absolutely wrong,” Fox said before Varney cut in that he himself had lit tap water on fire before fracking was around.
“I do believe you are lying right now,” Fox said.
“Lying?” Varney said, stunned.
“Yes, I do,” Fox said. “On your own show.”
Varney then ended the interview, furious that Fox had called him a liar. The interview may have ended, but Fox used the rest of the day to Tweet about the incident and make it look like Varney was defeated in some sort of fact-based, intellectual debate.
So typical @foxnews anchor @Varneyco admits he to me would not #frack his upstate NY backyard off air, then promotes it on air. #hypocrite
— Josh Fox (@gaslandmovie) June 8, 2015
Fox’s first “Gasland” film was released in 2010 and featured an iconic scene where a homeowner in Pennsylvania was able to light his tap water on fire. Fox’s film, however, was heavily criticized and numerous articles have come out debunking many of the claims made in Gasland and subsequent films.
As it turns out, there are many towns in the U.S. that have experienced gas getting into their tap water long before fracking became widespread.
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