Juan Williams Exits Role As Liberal Voice On Fox News' 'The Five': What You Need To Know

Juan Williams announced his departure from Fox Corp's FOXA talk show “The Five,” citing his desire to remain in Washington, D.C., and not return to the program’s New York City studio. However, a press report claims that Williams was removed following repeated clashes with co-star Greg Gutfeld.

What Happened: Williams was formerly the host of the NPR program “The Talk of the Nation,” but the network fired him in 2010 after he made appearances on Fox News programs criticizing then-First Lady Michelle Obama and Muslims wearing traditional Islamic clothing in public. He was hired by Fox News and later inherited the liberal commentator role on “The Five” from Bob Beckel, who was dropped from the show in 2015 after making racially insensitive comments on the air.

Williams used Wednesday’s broadcast to state his departure was based on his decision not to return to New York City. The show’s hosts had been broadcasting remotely during most of the pandemic, and a brief attempt to resume studio broadcasts last year was halted when Williams tested positive for COVID-19.

"COVID taught me a lot of lessons," Williams told the viewing audience. "As the show goes back to the New York studio, I'll be staying in DC. I'll be working for Fox out of Washington. My work as a Fox News political analyst will continue."

A report in The Daily Beast citing unnamed “multiple sources familiar with the matter” claims Williams was steered off “The Five” due to personality clashes with Greg Gutfeld, one of the program’s panelists.

“I heard that their on-air brawls are turning personal,” said one source, while another claimed that when “you have multiple narcissists on a show, this is the type of s**t that goes on.”

A third unnamed source claimed Gutfeld’s value to the network was greater than Williams's.

“Gutfeld has been a rising star at Fox for some time and Juan has been known to get in some pretty heated debates,” the source said. “So, with those two egos going at each other regularly, I could see it happening.”

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What Else Happened: Not surprisingly, Williams’ exit unleashed the virtual equivalent of uncorking champagne bottles among conservative media fixtures on Twitter Inc TWTR.

“Well, who saw this coming?” tweeted syndicated talk show host Wayne Dupree. “Fox News is definitely trying to win back viewers...”

TownHall.com columnist Mike LaChance tweeted, “Juan Williams announced that today was his last time hosting on #TheFive. I wish I could say that I'll miss him.”

Washington Times columnist Tim Young was less polite, tweeting, "I don't hate Juan Williams, I just know he was consistently full of s**t on The Five... and good at it." Young followed up by sarcastically pondering a Williams substitute: “Name an inanimate object that would be the best replacement for Juan Williams on The Five... GO!”

But not everyone on Twitter was gloating. Over at rival CNN, Brian Stelter had a more serious consideration about a replacement: "Possible 5pm co-hosts during the interim period include Geraldo Rivera, Richard Fowler, Jessica Tarlov and Harold Ford Jr."

And there were also voices of praise for Williams. Dr. Ginny McDonald, a self-described “Betocrat,” offered him sympathy for lasting as long as he did: "If I had to work with Jesse Watters and Greg Gutfeld I’d quit, too."

And Teresa Bailey may have served up the classiest tweet of them all: "I couldn’t agree less with Juan Williams on 99% of what he had to say, but I do wish he and his family the very best!"

(Screenshot of Juan Williams announcing his departure from "The Five" courtesy of Fox News.)