Former Arkansas Governor and current Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee faced online criticism for a social media post that mistakenly used male and female pronouns when referring to Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo. The error occurred shortly after Fox announced its departure from Bartiromo, who hosted "Mornings with Maria."
In a post on X, Huckabee initially praised Bartiromo, calling her "The smartest hardest working journalist & absolutely class act." He added, "It was an honor to work with him/ her and later to be guest on a show always worth watching." This phrasing quickly drew attention on the platform, with users questioning the use of "him/her" and speculating about the origin of the remark.
Some users suggested the tweet might have been generated by AI or was a pre-written template from which "him" was not removed. "Him/Her? How much of an honor could it have been if you're uncertain about Maria's gender?" one user commented. Another wrote, "WTF is up with the pronouns? Someone needs their sorry a** fired. Was/Were."
Approximately 90 minutes after his initial post, Huckabee addressed the confusion with a follow-up tweet. "Thanks for catching the 'him/her' line!" he wrote. "I was typing while riding in vehicle on bumpy street--but have NO idea how that came out! Aside from my clumsy typo mistake, I still love @MariaBartiromo & will always have total respect for HER. Just HER, no 'him' involved!"
Most replies to Huckabee's apology tweet appeared to accept his explanation for the typographical error.
Fox News announced its decision to part ways with Bartiromo on Thursday, stating, "We thank Maria for her work over the last 12½ years and wish her all the best on her next chapter." The network did not specify a reason for her departure. Following the announcement, Bartiromo's shows, "Mornings with Maria" and "Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street," will be renamed "Mornings with Fox Business" and "FBN’s Wall Street," respectively, and will feature a rotating cast of anchors.
Bartiromo's exit from Fox News occurred amid her involvement in two defamation lawsuits against the network. She had been a prominent voice in promoting claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election. These claims led to a $787.5 million settlement by Fox News in a lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems. Additionally, Bartiromo is named in an ongoing $2.7 billion defamation suit filed by Smartmatic, another voting equipment company. As of Thursday evening, Bartiromo had not publicly commented on her separation from Fox News, and her X bio still listed her as an anchor for "Mornings with Maria."
