Roger Friedman Fired Over Leaked "Wolverine" Review

Update Monday April 6, 5:30 PM ET: Friedman was officially terminated in his Monday meeting with Fox News executives. Fox News released the following statement:

Fox News representatives and Roger Friedman met today and mutually agreed to part ways immediately. Fox News appreciates Mr. Friedman's ten years of contributions to building foxnews.com and wishes him success in his future endeavors. Mr. Friedman is grateful to his colleagues for their friendship and support over the past decade.

Original Post: FoxNews.com entertainment columnist Roger Friedman has drawn the ire of News Corp bosses after writing a review of a leaked version of the upcoming 20th Century Fox blockbuster "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" — and he'll have to answer to Fox News executives in a meeting Monday morning.

Friedman's FoxNews.com column Thursday — since deleted — was a review of "Wolverine" that studio bosses viewed as an implicit endorsement of movie piracy, according to Deadline Hollywood Daily's Nikki Finke.

In the column, Friedman marveled at the ease of viewing a pirated movie: "It took really less than seconds to start playing it all right onto my computer," he wrote.

A News Corp statement Sunday (below) indicated that he had been "promptly terminated," which Friedman denied to ABCNews.com.

"There was no action taken against me," he said.

A Fox News spokesperson said simply, "This is an internal matter that we're not prepared to discuss at this time."

Insiders tell Huffington Post that Friedman will be meeting with Fox News executives Monday morning.

News Corp statement:

"Roger Friedman's views in no way reflect the views of News Corporation. We, along with 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, have been a consistent leader in the fight against piracy and have zero tolerance for any action that encourages and promotes piracy. When we advised Fox News of the facts they took immediate action, removed the post, and promptly terminated Mr. Friedman."

Comments

[silke1]

It seems to me that there are many competing forces driving down the value of intellectual property. From the cheap to produce reality shows, to user generated content, to free web based entertainment, to pirated work: the entire industry needs to look at who is benefitting from the reduction in the value of their work. Peer to Peer file swapping started this, but who knows where it might end. The Oligarchy is here, draining every last dime. 50% of the worlds wealth has been destroyed in the last 8 years. Who benefits from that?

We are on the slippery slope to a one world oligarchy where a tiny fraction of censors, book burners, and sociopathic financial thieves control the destiny of billions of human beings. I can scarcely imagine anything worse.

If one group wants to destroy the ability of another group to sustain itself economically there is no way to spin that. If you spend your life devaluing the work of others; whether it is their currency, or their goods, or the natural resources of their country, no good can come from that. We are trying to survive a cycle of very bad karma. The rich are now being targeted too..

I have said this before I think we are getting periously close to outright seizue of personal assets.



I support the current administration, and I think they are people of good intention, but in many ways, I think what we are facing and the human destiny is insurmountable.

[flossophy]

Of all the charges of journalism malfeasance against Faux Nooz... this is the only thing they can come up with? A leaked movie review?

[stagebandman]

Well, we've heard of him now, haven't we?

[glowworm]

What about all the FBI warnings on film piracy? If they are serious about following through on these warnings, they should be investigating Friedman and prosecuting him. Should not be too hard to prove seeing how he posted his confession.

[MsIrisMG]

They just fired the only reason to read Fox news online. Oh well, Mr. Friedman will survive, and so will I. Fox, on the other hand...

[superjules]

Fox news fired someone over an ethics violation?! The world must be spinning backwards.

[BMBTHC]

20th Century Fox, the producers of X-people. Nothing like telling the whole world (or the 13 people who go to Fox.com) how to rip off the parent company. This story is more along the lines of Dumb and Dummer.

[kashifsaeed28]

Fox News is pathetic.

My blog:
http://project-you-are-not-alone.blogspot.com

[Skyhawk]

He'll get a job at the NY Post.

[Puffin16]

This thinking reflects what many people also think - that pirating movies and music on the internet is OK. The teens and 20-somethings say that everybody is doing it, and they do not agree that it is stealing. Many say that the people in the industry are paid too much and they are entitled to taking what they want. Where did the baby boomers go wrong with their parenting of this group?

[iplaw]

I find it ironic that you can be fired for an ethical issue from a company that has no ethics.

[mudshark12]

Well said.

[Cakey4814]

No matter..hi­s obsession with Michael Jackson will more than compensate his loss...

[Xylem44]

Chuck one up to Wolverine. Man that dude is d@ngerous. You can hu.rt just by watching him. :)

[mjtaylor22]

fox news does not think, and that is obvious, they just read que cards and spout garbage and avoid facts

[the Lensman]

This is so typical of Fox. Fire someone for a minor infraction that affects their revenue stream while allowing their news personalities to speak sedition against the nation and slander or President.

[missouriwatcher]

So true, so true. They step on themselves (and their integrity) nearly every minute; and yet, have a real tempest in a teapot over non-news.

[xstevejx]

He worked for FOX News...how smart could he be?