Liberal pundit Bob Beckel, a former co-host of "The Five" on Fox News, returned to cable television on CNN last week.
In June, Fox News released Beckel after what
Politico described as a controversial stint on "The Five" where, among other things, he took contrary positions, was caught flipping off another co-host and pushed ending student visas for students from Muslim countries after the Boston Marathon bombing.
"The Five" had been rated No. 1 on basic cable at 5 p.m. for June, and its ratings for the 25-54 age demographic was up eight percent since Feb. 16, noted Politico, but Beckel had entered rehab therapy in April, reportedly for an addiction to prescription pain medication, and his last appearance on the show was Feb. 16.
"We tried to work with Bob for months, but we couldn't hold 'The Five' hostage to one man's personal issues," Bill Shine, Fox's executive vice president of programming, said in a June statement announcing Beckel's departure. "He took tremendous advantage of our generosity, empathy and goodwill and we simply came to the end of the road with him."
In a Twitter posted, Beckel said he was "baffled" about being released.
Beckel was back on Twitter again last week, this time to announce his return to CNN, with an appearance on "CNN Tonight" with Don Lemon.
"The topic was, of course, (Donald) Trump … whom CNN could find any one of 856 contributors and/or guests in the New York area to opine about," wrote Joe Concha of
Mediaite. "But Beckel got the call – or more likely – he pitched CNN on giving him a few at-bats. … Beckel wants to show he's clean, sober and ready to work again."
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