Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Names and faces
■ The Sinclair Broadcast Group said Saturday that it is pulling from the air an edition of its “America This Week” program that discusses a conspiracy theory involving Dr. Anthony Fauci and the coronavirus. Sinclair spokesman Michael Padovano said Sinclair hopes to add context and other viewpoints and still air the controversial segment on the next week’s edition of the show. Fauci said in an interview that he is receiving “not only hate mail, but actual serious threats against me.” “I mean against my family, my daughters, my wife,” he said on “The Axe Files” podcast with former Obama aide David Axelrod this past week. “There are people who get really angry at thinking that I’m interfering with their life because I’m pushing a public health agenda.” When it comes to hate mail and serious threats against him and his family, Fauci said, “I don’t really see how society does that.” “America This Week” is hosted by Eric Bolling and sent to stations Sinclair owns in 81 markets. The show it initially distributed for this weekend featured an interview with Judy Mikovits, maker of the widely discredited “Plandemic” video, and her lawyer, Larry Klayman. Mikovits, an anti-vaccine activist, said she believed that Fauci manufactured the coronavirus and shipped it to China. There has been no evidence that the virus was produced in a lab, much less any of Fauci’s involvement. Bolling followed up with a segment interviewing radiologist Dr. Nicole Saphier, a Fox News contributor, who said she thought Fauci “in no way, shape or form has been involved in the manufacture of this virus.” Bolling told CNN Business that he wasn’t even aware of the “Plandemic” video before his bookers arranged for Mikovits’ appearance. He told CNN that “frankly, I was shocked when she made the accusation.” He said he brought Saphier on to challenge what he called a “hefty” charge.
■ Queen Elizabeth II joined in the virtual unveiling of a portrait commissioned by Britain’s Foreign Office to honor her services to diplomacy. The portrait of the monarch by Miriam Escofet is meant to pay tribute to the queen’s work in promoting U.K. interests all over the world. The queen saw the painting on her computer screen, and observed that a tea cup in the portrait lacked a key ingredient: tea. Escofet told the monarch that she had included the insignia of the FCO on the cup. “She seemed to react very positively to it,” Escofet said. “She was smiling, asking how long it took and if I had any more projects on the go after this.” The unveiling took place during a virtual visit in which the monarch was told about how the Foreign Office handled the pandemic and brought thousands of British tourists home from far-flung travels.