Has Newsmax Ghosted Their Star Meathead?
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This reporting appears as one of several scoops featured in this week’s edition of Confider, the newsletter pulling back the curtain on the media. Subscribe here and send your questions, tips, and complaints here.
Newsmax meathead Grant Stinchfield has disappeared from its airwaves—and nobody knows what the channel’s plans are with the frequently unhinged host.
Early last month, the ratings-challenged Fox News wannabe overhauled its lineup to make room for Greta Van Susteren. The former Fox News anchor was given the 6 p.m. ET slot, bumping former Trump flack Sean Spicer to 5 p.m. and moving another ex-Fox star, Eric Bolling, to primetime—in Stinchfield’s 8 p.m. slot.
Since losing his primetime show, Stinchfield, a former NRATV host, has been completely absent from Newsmax’s air. At the time of its Greta-based overhaul, the network claimed Stinchfield would soon shift to weekends but there has been no word since his final appearance on June 12 or since his show’s final broadcast (with a guest host) the next evening.
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Stinchfield texted a fan at that time that he was “still in talks” with Newsmax and that he’d post any “updates” on his social media accounts. But it’s been nearly complete radio silence since then. Last week, he took a jokey swipe at Newsmax in an Instagram video of himself dancing: “I have no idea why @newsmax would cancel me! Look at this talent! @dancingwiththestars hit me up. My buddy @seanmspicer can be used as a reference! #dancingwiththestars (forced to post this, lost a bet!).”
When reached for comment by Confider, though, Stinchfield refused to discuss his purgatorial status, instead ranting about The Daily Beast’s coverage of his at-times conspiratorial commentary and other exploits.
“The Daily Beast!?!?! Put my name in your search bar and you tell me why I should talk to you! (I am grateful for all the publicity y’all provide me! My followers eat it up.),” he wrote to Confider. “Other than that… Feel free to quote me on this. ‘I don’t talk to left wing fake news outlets that profit off phony news stories about good conservatives and/or their America First policies.’”
Multiple Newsmax insiders emphasized that network management has been completely silent to staffers about its plans for Stinchfield. However, Stinchfield was indeed peeved about losing the primetime gig he’d held since August 2020, according to a Newsmax insider who told us “He was not happy,” before taking a shot at their colleague: “Few of us were surprised. His show regularly had bad ratings despite having great producers on the team. His show just came off as radio on TV which is boring and not compelling.”
Newsmax’s PR team seemed to be caught off-guard when Confider inquired about Stinchfield.
“I haven't heard anything since I heard that Grant (and Newsmax) were considering/negotiating a weekend show,” a spokesperson said before sharing a sneering statement attributed to “management,” reading: “The Daily Beast is a far left organization which usually gets its information wrong and publishes even when denied.”
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