Fox News chief Roger Ailes blasted the left-leaning Gawker website Thursday after its attempt to plant a mole inside the nation's most popular cable news network backfired.
Fox fired an associate producer Joe Muto after learning he was the "Fox Mole" hired by the news blog Gawker.
The associate producer of "The O'Reilly Factor" made his debut as an anonymous columnist on Gawker on Tuesday. He was hired to provide regular posts from inside the network.
Fox said in a statement Muto was fired after it determined he "was the main culprit in less than 24 hours." The network said it "was continuing to explore legal recourse against Mr. Muto and possibly others."
"What is Gawker? Is that that pornographic website?" Ailes asked at an event in New York City hosted by The Hollywood Reporter. "I don't care if they have a mole because we're not doing anything wrong, so it doesn't matter... they hate me because I make money and I do it legitimately and they don't like my politics, and that's America."
Ailes also said that Keith Olbermann, recently fired from Current TV, might have a tough time getting hired after a series of messy exits from ex-employers.
"You'd have to find somebody as crazy as he is, I'm afraid," said Ailes. "Talking about burning bridges. This guy really burns 'em. I feel sorry for anybody who's out of work, so I don't want to trash him or say anything negative about him. He was great at sports, I thought."
He added: "Keith will find a job again, but it'll be a pet show in St. Louis, or something."
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