The News Anchor That Got Fired For His Prince Tribute Was Actually Fired For Ranting Live On Facebook

Last Week:

UPDATE:  A source tells us Fox 17 reporter Meagan O’Halloran was conducting a Facebook Live “fishbowl” broadcast, in which newsroom personnel are asked to pick a question out of the bowl and answer it for the live viewing audience. Phillips reportedly told O’Halloran “you better not fucking come in my office with that,” and proceeded to repeatedly yell “Fuck you! Fuck you!” on the Facebook Live broadcast after she entered his office. We’re told Phillips then told the rest of the staff “I fucking told her that would happen if she came into my office.” The video was immediately deleted, according to our source. 

That meltdown, we’re told, is what led to Phillips’s firing—not the Prince tribute. We’ve reached out to Phillips for his side of the story, and will update if he returns our call. We knew Facebook Live was coming for media jobs, but didn’t think it would be like this.



Well, I guess I was a little off on the "sexually assaulting an intern" guess, but it turns out Dan Phillips isn't as innocent as he let on in his FaceBook post. Shocking stuff really. Credit where credit is due though. I actually appreciate him trying to get out ahead of the story. I almost didn't blog this update because someone getting fired for cursing at their boss through a live stream isn't nearly as noteworthy as a person getting fired for doing an on-air tribute to a musical legend. That's what makes his fabricated narrative so genius. He was unemployed anyway. Might as well play the victim and get as much circulation as you can out of a story that's bound to go viral when the actual truth isn't going to go nearly as viral. I'm not even writing this to clear the air per se. I am writing it to tip my hat to Dan Phillips. There's no doubt in mind that a few days from now there will be far more people that believe he was wrongfully terminated than people that realize there was a legitimate cause for his dismissal. A person getting canned for losing their cool isn't news. A person getting canned for honoring a cultural icon is. Give me a pretty lie over an ugly truth any day. Especially when that pretty lie is so much more fun to write about.