Muto (Gawker)
Joe Muto, Gawker's so-called "Fox News mole" and former associate producer at Bill O'Reilly's "Factor," appeared on CNN in his first interview since being fired by the cable news network.
Muto said that he probably committed career suicide by going rogue at the News Corp.-owned channel.
"I think it's pretty safe to say my career in cable news is over," Muto told Howard Kurtz. "I don't foresee anyone outside of Current TV hiring me."
But Muto--who admitted he is "not a very good mole" after being caught by Fox within 24 hours of his first dispatch for Gawker--said he was fed up after toiling at Fox for eight years, most of them spent as an associate producer.
"This was a primal scream from a long-time Fox employee who just couldn't take it anymore and could not take it one more day in that place," Muto said.
He was promoted to an associate producer on O'Reilly's show in 2007. According to the Daily News, Muto wasn't bound by a non-disclosure agreement "given his [low-level] position and [low] level of access."
Late last week, lawyers for Fox News threatened legal action against Gawker Media and Muto, warning that the network would pursue legal action over the publication of videos and photos Muto obtained while working there.
"I think their legal accusations are completely baseless," Muto said on CNN. "They're trying to intimidate me into silence because I'm revealing unflattering information about the inner workings of the company."
Muto, though, hasn't revealed much so far. Last week, Gawker published unaired footage in between takes of a Sean Hannity interview with Mitt Romney--in which the Republican hopeful talked about his wife Ann's horses--and a photo of O'Reilly on a boat with several people, including a topless woman.
On CNN, Muto added:
"I'm not a sociopath, Howard. I don't want to make it sound like I worked there for eight years with a chip on my shoulder, and I hated everyone. There's a lot of, you know, really nice, you know, people who I really like and respect. So, those people, if I hurt any of them, I apologize to them. But I felt the need to speak out because my story--my story had to be told. I couldn't--I couldn't be in that building one day longer without, you know, exploding."
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