Fox columnist Roger Friedman was famously fired from his crappy column at Fox News for writing about watching a pirated copy of a Fox movie, Wolverine.  Like any rational person, Friedman blames his firing on Scientology. And he’s filing a lawsuit.

Friedman is convinced it was a cover story. Last August, Friedman went to Memphis for the funeral of his friend Isaac Hayes, who was a Scientologist. Kelly Preston was also in town for the funeral. Friedman says that when Preston saw him at the Peabody Hotel, she loudly blasted him for his columns criticizing Scientology.

Hmm, I don’t know how you call something that actually happened a “cover story,” but then again, this is the same guy who once wrote that Matt LeBlanc had “literally disappeared.”

The following month, says an ally of Friedman, Preston voiced her complaints about Friedman to Fox News chief Roger Ailes and his then-EVP, John Moody. “Moody talked to her on the phone,” says the source. “When she couldn’t get Moody to fire Friedman, she called him a [obscenity].”
Ailes and Moody later agreed to meet with Preston and Church of Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis (the son of actress Anne Archer), according to the source, who says Friedman’s editors forbid him from writing about the death in January of Preston’s son, Jett.
Meanwhile, Friedman says, 20th Century Fox chairman Jim Gianopoulos had been encouraging him to lay off Cruise’s movie “Valkyrie,” which Fox was distributing internationally.
Last month, Variety reported that Cruise was in advanced talks to star with Cameron Diaz in a Fox action comedy, “Wichita.” A source suspects that Cruise may have made Friedman’s ouster a condition of the actor appearing in “Wichita.”

The original story when he was getting fired was that 20th Century Fox and Fox News were totally separate companies, so it’s interesting that he’s now claiming that 20th Century Fox was pressuring him.  And by ‘interesting,’ I mean wow, what an [obscenity].

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If Fox News columnist Roger Friedman’s status was at all in doubt yesterday, it is no longer.  Fox today released a statement saying they “mutually agreed to part ways immediately.”  Mutual, that’s how it was with me and my ex-girlfriend.  All the crying and pissing my pants at work and killing her dog was just a transitional phase.  Based on mutualness.  And if I’d done those things, and I’m not saying I did, but say for the sake of argument I did, it would’ve only been because I f*cking love you so much you stupid bitch why can’t you see that.

Anyway, so ends Friedman’s 10+ year career as a Fox columnist.  Let’s take a trip down memory lane, shall we?

“Guiding Light, R.I.P. I’m glad I switched to Colgate Total a long time ago.”

“Most of us have never been to Malawi, a country that Madonna has depicted as so poor that she must remove its children for their safety. She’s burnished this image so completely that yours truly was surprised to meet a group of Malawi businessmen on a flight in Zambia two years ago. These well-spoken gentlemen were on their way to a weekend retreat – just like businessmen all over the world.”

“After “Joey,” Matt LeBlanc has literally disappeared.”

“Whatever he’s doing involving chains, water tanks, or straitjackets, Jackman looks no worse for the wear. Wherever he goes, women go into a dead faint, and swoon all about like teenagers at a Justin Timberlake concert!”

“Krall has just finished producing tracks for Barbra Streisand’s new album, too. She’s doing all of that and taking care of two year twin boys with dad Elvis. And, oh yeah she does Letterman on April 3rd . Talk about multi-tasking!”

His legendary insight will be missed.

It’s not exactly child rape, but illegally downloading movies is still illegal.  Which is why it was somewhat surprising that Foxnews.com columnist Roger Friedman, who wrote the Fox 411 column, publically discussed downloading the leaked Wolverine movie, despite the fact that Wolverine was made by 20th Century Fox, who share a parent company with Friedman’s employer.  In an article since removed, Friedman wrote:

“Yes, I’ve seen “X Men Origins: Wolverine.” It wasn’t at a screening, either. I found a work in progress print of it, 95 percent completed, on the internet last night. Let’s hope by now it’s gone.”

And…

“I did find the whole top 10 [movies in theaters], plus TV shows, commercials, videos, everything, all streaming away. It took really less than seconds to start playing it all right onto my computer. I could have downloaded all of it but really, who has the time or the room? Later tonight I may finally catch up with Paul Rudd in I Love You, Man. It’s so much easier than going out in the rain!”

Common sense would’ve told most people that this was a bad idea, but I can see how working for same company as Glenn Beck might sort of insulate you from common sense. As for the fallout, Nikki Finke initially claimed, based on an inside source, that Friedman, a columnist for 10+ years, had been fired (or “had been fired! :-)” as Friedman might write it).  News Corp later issued a statement saying Friedman had been “promptly terminated,” which Friedman denied, and Fox News won’t comment on. Meanwhile, HuffPo reports that Fox News Execs and Friedman are meeting to discuss the matter this morning.  The latest news is that a FilmDrunk inside source was able to obtain some video from that meeting.
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