As Steve Bannon casts about for a new gig after being given the boot from Breitbart News, one place he will certainly not be heading is Fox News.
Mere hours after his departure from the conservative website, the network moved to swiftly slam the door on any talk that the newly unemployed Bannon may be signed as a contributor.
“Fox News will not be hiring Steve Bannon,” a network spokesperson told TheWrap Tuesday.
The conservative firebrand’s career has been in limbo since the publication of journalist Michael Wolff’s new book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.” In the book, which has rapidly become a bestseller, Bannon called Donald Trump Jr. “treasonous” and “unpatriotic” for meeting with a Russian lawyer during his father’s presidential campaign.
The subsequent outrage was lead by President Trump himself, who issued a lengthy and brutal denunciation of the man who once served as his chief White House strategist and campaign manager.
“Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency,” said Trump. “When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.”
A quasi-apology from Bannon in which he said his comments were directed at political insiders in the campaign like then-manager Paul Manafort fell flat. In addition to Trump, Bannon was also abandoned by Rebekah Mercer, whose billionaire family has bankrolled Breitbart for years.
Though Bannon won’t be joining the Fox family any time soon, his former Breitbart colleague, Sebastian Gorka, does serve as a contributor for the channel and has become a primetime regular with Sean Hannity.
As for what the future hold for Bannon, both friend and foe alike told TheWrap that he would likely not go quietly into the night.
“I don’t think he’ll be quiet or silent for very long. Acceptance fate or defeat is not in his DNA,” former Breitbart spokesperson Kurt Bardella told TheWrap. “He will try and reinvent himself. He will try and finish what he started.”