Glenn Beck may or may not have been fired by Fox, but his time on Fox News did come to an end Thursday. However he ultimately left, Beck reassured his audience that he wasn't fired and the end of his show was "divinely inspired." Although he is no longer on television full-time, the host promised his new projects on his website would continue the movement he started. Yet the movement had stalled a bit on television, which is why he was allowed to leave Fox in the first place.
Beck had been the hottest and most divisive personality on TV as recently as last year during the run-up to his infamous "Restoring Honor" rally at the Lincoln Memorial. But that event, and its parallels to Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" rally, of all things, might have been the peak of his power.
Declining ratings and backlash against Beck led to speculation that he had been fired from Fox. Like his political counterpart Keith Olbermann, Beck left the network he once symbolized under questionable circumstances. But like Olbermann, he is likely to find another place to rant and rave somewhere else.
Olbermann is now trying to make Current TV into a cable power. For Beck, he is settling on spreading the word at his website, gbtv.com, for the moment. But he will undoubtedly do something on TV again, whether it is the occasional special for Fox News or an appearance on another network. Of course, given the liberal media Beck so often rants against, not many other networks would probably have him.
Yet because he is a big name who used to draw both ire and massive controversy, it might be enough to get him another job. However, since his star power has been waning in the last year, has the era of Glenn Beck gone through its 15 minutes of fame already, or does he have another act left in him?
Whatever he does and says, he will be attacked by his liberal enemies, even if he doesn't set off as much anger as usual. In any case, he still has a radio show and a website to spread his word, so if he says anything particularly off the rails, it will make headlines on the blogosphere. In addition, since the 2012 elections are coming up, he will need to say a lot to prevent President Obama's "socialist agenda" from ruling for four more years.
But although Beck will move on, it will be hard to top the impact he had on television, with his famous chalkboards, conspiracy theories, and comments like calling President Obama a racist. Yet it all ultimately had a cost, since if it didn't get him fired, it made advertisers bail out and Fox News less reluctant to let its biggest star leave.
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