Jessica Tarlov Forced To Apologize For Spreading Misinformation

One of Fox television’ biggest stars acknowledged the poisonous nature of cable television and accepted that she contributes to the issue.

Larry Sabato, the founder and director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, was asked by Jessica Tarlov, a liberal commentator on Fox’s top show, The Five, what subject most infuriated him.

“I watch more TV news than I ever have before. TV funnels what’s selling on social media, I think, more than the reverse. That makes me rage,” Sabato said on the Prof G podcast, which Tarlov co-hosts.

Tarlov went on to admit that she is also part of the problem.

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“It does,” Tarlov said. “As someone who’s on cable news, I apologize to the entire world for what we export.”

In the interview, Sabato chuckled at Tarlov’s comment, stating that the primary problem is the predominance of social media in political discourse.

“There’s nothing we can do about social media,” he said.

“The one thing I’ve been waiting for that I was promised as a young person was a time machine,” he added. “We still don’t have one, cause I’d love to go back and make it impossible to create social media. I don’t know how I do it, but I would try to do that.”

One of Fox News’ top stars acknowledged how toxic cable news has become—and admitted she’s part of the problem.https://t.co/bN3CTnECkU

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) May 25, 2025

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Tarlov made headlines recently when she was embroiled in a $30 million lawsuit for comments she made during a segment last year on “The Five.”

A New York judge threw out Tony Bobulinski’s $30 million defamation suit against Tarlov and ordered Bobulinski to pay Tarlov’s legal bills.

“Before the Court is Tarlov’s motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim and motion for attorney’s fees under New York’s anti-SLAPP law. For the reasons that follow, the motion to dismiss is granted. And because the Court concludes that the mandatory fee-shifting provision of New York’s anti-SLAPP law applies in federal court, Tarlov’s motion for attorney’s fees is also granted,” District Judge J. Paul Oetken said in his decision.

A spokesperson for Fox News said in a statement, “FOX News is pleased with the court’s landmark decision, which not only dismissed Tony Bobulinski and Stefan Passantino’s meritless allegations against Jessica Tarlov, but also marks the first federal court decision to award attorney’s fees under New York’s anti-SLAPP statute.”

Bobulinski, who used to work with Hunter Biden, sued Tarlov for something she said in January on the popular show “The Five,” where she is a co-host. In a conversation with Judge Jeanine Pirro, Tarlov said, “Okay, a Trump Super PAC paid for Tony Bobulinski’s lawyers’ fees.”

As promised, Bobulinski’s lawyer Jesse Binall wrote Fox Corp. a letter the next day demanding that Tarlov retract her statement and issue an apology.

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He also said that he would “immediately file a defamation lawsuit against Fox and Ms. Tarlov if this lie is not retracted by Ms. Tarlov on-air today.”

The next day, Tarlov talked about the comments on the radio and gave more information: “I would like to clarify a comment I made yesterday during our discussion of Tony Bobulinski’s appearance at the congressional hearing. During an exchange with my colleagues about the hearing I said that Mr. Bobulinski’s lawyers’ fees have been paid by a Trump super PAC as recent as January. What was actually said during the hearing was that the law firm representing Mr. Bobulinski was paid by a Trump PAC. I have seen no indication those payments were made in connection with Mr. Bobulinski’s legal fees and he denies that they were.”

After that, Bobulinski and his lawyers sued Tarlov and asked for $30 million in damages for compensation, special, and punitive reasons, as well as costs and attorneys’ fees.

The court shot down Bobulinski on all points.