The Fox News evening opinion shows are not known for open-minded chats with the liberal side of the political aisle, to put it mildly. But Sean Hannity's chat with actor Sean Penn on Tuesday was a remarkable television moment, with the two men cordially acknowledging their political differences and then digging into a productive and intriguing conversation about Ukraine. 

They acknowledged the elephant in the room right away, with Hannity commenting that "99 out of 100 times, we probably would be in full disagreement," and Penn describing how he had told the Fox News host that he didn't trust him in their first phone call. 

The two then dove into the harrowing situation in Ukraine. Penn unexpectedly found himself with a front row seat to history as he began work in late 2021 on a documentary on the country and their comedian-turned-wartime-leader, President Volodymyr Zelensky. Penn met Zelensky for the first time one week before Russia invaded, and had high words of praise for the "extraordinary courage" shown by the president, as well as the Ukrainian people. 

Hannity devoted half of Tuesday's show to his conversation with Penn, asking substantive questions and offering a respectful platform for someone with whom he normally vehemently disagrees. It was a pleasant change of pace that resulted in a must-watch interview. 

 

WMAL radio host Amber Athey revealed on Monday that she was fired from her gig with the conservative talk network for a joke she tweeted about Vice President Kamala Harris. 

Athey had mocked the brown suit Harris wore to the State of the Union address in March, tweeting, “Kamala looks like a UPS employee — what can brown do for you? Nothing good, apparently,” a reference to the shipping company's old slogan. WMAL had told her the tweet was "racist," which Athey denied was her intent. 

In a statement, Athey wrote that WMAL had decided that her tweet violated their social media policy and fired her, denying her the opportunity to defend herself and failing to speak to anyone on O'Connor and Company, the program where she worked with host Larry O'Connor. 

O'Connor himself has publicly denounced Athey's firing, posting tweets urging his audience to contact WMAL and parent company Cumulus Media.  

Your friendly neighborhood Mediaite newsletter correspondent covers offensive tweets and outrageous comments week after week. In the context of all the awfulness out there, Athey's joke was small potatoes. Firing her without communicating with O'Connor just compounded a poor management decision, and WMAL deserves the blowback they're getting.