😲 Wait… Greg Gutfeld’s ditching Fox—the snarky late-night slayer who’s roasted libs into oblivion for 17 years? Rumors swirl of a dramatic walkout, but insiders whisper it’s no firing: a multi-year mega-deal that locks him in tighter than ever. Pushed out? Nah—pulling strings. What’s the real power play shaking the Murdoch empire? Unpack the exit that’s actually an empire expansion:

Whispers of a seismic shakeup at Fox News ricocheted across cable TV and social media this week, with headlines screaming that Greg Gutfeld—the irreverent late-night provocateur who’s built a conservative comedy empire on the network—was “out” after nearly two decades of skewering the left. “In a move no one saw coming,” blared one viral post, speculating everything from a behind-the-scenes push to outright quitting amid escalating controversies. But in a twist straight out of Gutfeld’s own satirical playbook, the truth is far less dramatic: The 61-year-old funnyman has inked a lucrative multi-year contract extension, cementing his throne on Gutfeld! and The Five while expanding into Fox Nation specials. “Why now? Was he pushed? Did he quit?” The answers? Timing tied to his new-dad glow-up, no pink slip in sight, and a brewing backlash over his increasingly incendiary rhetoric that’s got insiders sweating. As Fox CEO Suzanne Scott hailed him a “true original,” the deal—quietly finalized in late September—has only amplified debates: Is Gutfeld’s unfiltered style the network’s secret sauce, or a liability in a post-Trump media landscape?

The rumor mill ignited on X (formerly Twitter) around October 7, when a flurry of posts—fueled by Gutfeld’s brief summer hiatus for paternity leave—morphed into full-blown exit speculation. “Greg Gutfeld OUT at Fox? The king of conservative comedy walks!” one thread racked up 50,000 views, blending fan panic with schadenfreude from liberal corners. Users dissected his July 15, 2025, monologue claiming conservatives should “reclaim the word ‘Nazi’” after likening ICE agents to Holocaust enforcers, a bit that drew swift condemnation from outlets like The Independent as “extreme and unhinged.” “Pushed out for going too far?” speculated @MediaMogulWatch, echoing whispers from unnamed Fox staffers who told The Daily Beast the remarks were “disgusting” and career-ending. But sources close to the deal, speaking on background, paint a rosier picture: Negotiations wrapped amid Gutfeld’s family milestone—the birth of daughter Mira in early December 2024, which sidelined him until January 6, 2025, for bonding time that Perino announced on-air with a cheeky nod to his “rock-hard abs” genes.

Gutfeld’s Fox journey, a masterclass in contrarian ascent, makes the “exit” buzz all the more absurd. Kicking off in 2007 with the cult-favorite Red Eye—a 3 a.m. gabfest blending irreverence with insomnia cures—he morphed into a daytime staple on The Five, cable’s top-rated yakker at 5 p.m. ET, where his libertarian jabs at panelists like Jessica Tarlov have minted viral gold. By 2015, The Greg Gutfeld Show Saturdays paved the way for Gutfeld!, the weeknight juggernaut that dethroned Colbert in 2021 viewership wars, averaging 2.5 million loyalists who tune in for monologues torching “woke” culture—from Greta Thunberg’s “theatrics” to AOC’s “short kings” apology. Six NYT bestsellers later—including 2025’s The King of Late Night—he’s not just a host; he’s Fox’s anti-Leno, framing “any serious argument as a joke and any joke as a serious argument,” per The New York Times’ dissection of his “insult conservatism.”

The extension, reportedly worth eight figures annually, locks Gutfeld through 2029, with perks like producing Fox Nation game shows (What Did I Miss?) and podcast crossovers. “Greg’s connected deeply with our audience,” Scott gushed in a memo, crediting his humor for a 15% ratings bump post-2024 election. Insiders say the timing—post-paternity, pre-midterms—avoids contract lulls, especially after his January return wowed with a baby-themed roast of Biden’s “nap schedules.” Gutfeld himself teased the ink on X: “Sticking around to keep the libs crying—family first, then the punchlines.” No “push” evident; if anything, Fox brass views him as indispensable amid Jesse Watters’ rising star and post-Murdoch succession jitters.

Yet, the “why now?” lingers amid a controversy cloud that’s thickened Gutfeld’s tenure. His 2025 barbs—equating trans healthcare docs to “Nazi experimenters” and doxxing protesters on-air—drew advertiser flak, with boycotts from GLAAD and a dip in Gutfeld! sponsors from 28 to 22 in Q2, per AdImpact data. Fox employees vented anonymously: “His career would be over,” one producer told The Daily Beast, while another called it a “disgusting” pivot to sycophantic Trumpism. Critics like Media Matters tallied 47 “extreme” segments in H1 2025, up 30% from 2024, fueling calls for network accountability. “He’s the id of Fox—funny until it’s not,” opined a former Red Eye staffer. Gutfeld’s retort? A July X post: “If Nazis are off-limits, so’s comedy. Deal with it.”

The personal pivot adds heart to the headlines. At 60, Gutfeld’s leap into fatherhood with wife Elena Moussa—a 43-year-old ex-model and podcast co-host—has softened his edges, or so fans say. His December absence sparked “fired?” panic, quelled only by Perino’s reveal: “He’s teaching her three languages and abs of steel.” Vacation snaps from June—him, Elena, and Mira in the Adirondacks—show a doting dad, far from the on-air firebrand. “Paternity leave? More like sanity break,” he joked on return, tying into a broader Fox trend: Watters took three months in 2024 for his third kid, boosting the “family man” brand amid #MeToo scars.

Social fallout from the “exit” hoax underscores Gutfeld’s polarized perch. #GutfeldOut trended briefly, with MAGA diehards decrying a “deep state purge” and libs toasting “good riddance” via memes of his bulldog Gus as the “real host.” Reddit’s r/savedyouaclick mocked the clickbait, while X users like @TyTheFisch (banned from a Gutfeld taping for “coffee-gate”) cried “woke Fox!” Veterans praised his opioid crisis rants—”The real crisis is pain patients denied relief,” he thundered in September—earning nods from chronic pain advocates. But left-leaning voices, like @foster_stelena, slammed doxxing calls as “MAGA hypocrisy.”

Looking ahead, the deal positions Gutfeld as Fox’s late-night linchpin against ABC’s flailing Jimmy Kimmel and NBC’s Colbert, whose post-2024 slumps hit 20% viewership drops. Plans include a 2026 tour (Gutfeld Live!) and book seven, probing “comedy in the cancel era.” As one Fox vet put it: “He’s not out—he’s indispensable. But if he torches one bridge too many…” The unraveling? Less a shocking exit than a savvy stay, proving Gutfeld’s real genius: Turning headlines into haymakers, even when they’re about him.