Child separations: TV makers threaten to boycott 'evil' Fox over coverage

Hollywood producers and directors have criticised 21st Century Fox and threatened to boycott the network over its coverage of the controversial US immigration practice of separating children from their parents.

Among those weighing in were creators of hit shows produced by or aired on 21st Century Fox, which is owned by the same company as Fox News, with one threatening to take his show elsewhere due to the coverage.

Steve Levitan, co-creator of the television show Modern Family, said he was “disgusted” to work for Fox, calling their commentary on the immigration furore “the opposite of what Modern Family stands for” and saying he was looking forward to “setting up shop elsewhere” at the end of the current season.

Conservative commentators on Fox News have spoken in support of the policy of separating children from their parents and detaining them. On Monday, Fox News host Laura Ingraham described the detention centers in which the children were housed “as essentially summer camps” and on Sunday Ann Coulter alleged the children were “child actors weeping and crying” and urged Donald Trump: “Do not fall for it, Mr President.”

Speaking to Ingraham on Fox News on Monday night, the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, drew criticism for his response to people comparing immigrant detention centers to Nazi Germany.

“In Nazi Germany they were keeping the Jews from leaving the country,” he said.

On Tuesday Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski caused controversy on the channel when he dismissed a story about a 10-year-old immigrant with Down’s syndrome with a sarcastic “wah wah” or “womp womp” sound.

Levitan called Coulter’s comments “pure evil” and said that there were many “amazing people” working at Fox who shared his concerns about Fox News but “aren’t in the position to speak out”.

However later on Tuesday Levitan appeared to backtrack on his threat to remove the show from the network, releasing a statement saying: “I have great respect and admiration for Dana Walden, Gary Newman, Peter Rice, and everyone at 20th Century Fox Studios who have all treated me so well for almost two decades. For now, I will take some time to see where those people land, and at that point, make a decision about my future.”

Bradley Whitford, the West Wing actor, who has been outspoken about his concern over the immigration policy, tweeted his support of Levitan, writing “Thank you Steve”.

Levitan was joined by Seth MacFarlane, Bridesmaids director Paul Feig, and Judd Apatow, the producer behind movies and TV shows such as Girls and Trainwreck, in condemning Fox’s commentary of the issue.

MacFarlane, creator of the television show Family Guy, which airs on Fox, responded to comments by Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson that viewers should not believe anything they learn from rivals, tweeting: “It’s business like this that makes me embarrassed to work for this company.” He has tweeted extensively in opposition to the immigration policy and on Tuesday donated $2.5m to the National Public Radio news organisation.

The prolific filmmaker Judd Apatow was asked on Twitter whether he would also consider leaving the Fox Studio stable, and replied: “I would leave but I decided not [to] work for them sixteen years ago.” He added that “the Murdoch family is part of this torturing of children. They own the propaganda machine.” He urged Fox stars, showrunners, journalists, athletes and executives to speak up.

Paul Feig, the producer behind Bridesmaids and the Ghostbusters reboot, who has made two films for the 20th Century Fox movie studio, wrote: “I too cannot condone the support their news division promotes toward the immoral and abusive policies and actions taken by this current administration toward immigrant children.”

Fox struck a deal in December to sell of most of the film and television businesses to Walt Disney Co, which would mean Fox News may soon be run by a separate company to the entertainment division. However, Comcast Corp has made a rival bid for the parts of Fox that Disney had planned to buy.