Fox News host Greg Gutfeld used Juan Williams’ own book against him in a dispute over cancel culture on Monday’s “The Five.”
Williams argued that Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley was not being “canceled.” He pointed out that Hawley, who lost his book deal with publisher Simon and Schuster after he was accused of helping to incite the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill, found another publisher and had landed the New York Post’s front page. (RELATED: Juan Williams Appears To Blame National Guard Parking Garage Debacle On Donald Trump)
Gutfeld responded by pointing out that Williams, who is a regular contributor on Fox News, quite literally wrote the book on people being “canceled” for having the wrong opinions.
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“I find this curious, he is on the front page of a widely read newspaper in the biggest city in America, New York City, complaining about cancel culture,” Williams began. “Wait a minute, I thought he was being canceled. I’m a big believer in capitalism and if a private company decides it doesn’t want to do business with an individual, well, seems to me like that’s a private business decision and it’s not about cancel culture, it’s not about government censorship, it’s a business decision.”
Williams went on to argue that he believed Hawley had made a mistake in opposing the Electoral College vote and in showing support for the Trump rally-goers who went on to violently breach the Capitol later that day.
“I think the truth is now he’s just trying to change the subject to cancel culture to get away from people talking about his bad politics and I don’t think he’s going to get a pass on this from anybody who takes a second to look at the whole story,” Williams concluded.
“You can’t lose your speech because you happen to have a wrong opinion. Wait a second, Juan. Didn’t you write a book about this? What was it called?” Gutfeld asked.
“Yes, ‘Muzzled,’ but this is what I’m saying, this guy was not being muzzled if he’s on the front page of The New York Post and his book was taken up by a conservative publisher,” Williams replied.
“You did the same thing, you wrote a book about being muzzled, yet you wrote a book! You’re criticizing him for the same thing you did,” Gutfeld pushed back.
Williams, who wrote the book “Muzzled: The Assault on Honest Debate” after being fired by NPR, argued that his situation was “harsher” because he had actually been fired for his “willingness to work for Fox, and to engage conservatives.”