Fox News has hired conservative media publisher Ben Shapiro to host a four-episode series focusing on the 2018 midterm election, the network announced Monday.
“The Ben Shapiro Election Special” is slated to run on Sunday evenings at 8 pm beginning on Sept. 23.
“Ben is a rising star in conservative political commentary and we are excited to add his signature style and well thought out viewpoint to our pre-election weekend lineup,” John Finley, Fox’s senior vice president of development and production, said in a statement.
In a statement to TheWrap, Shapiro said he was looking forward to bringing his own signature brand of liberal-baiting commentary to the country’s most watched news network.
“This election is critical for the country, and it will be hotly-debated and contested from every angle,” he said via email. “I’m incredibly excited to bring facts, not feelings to the airwaves, and I’m excited that Fox News is partnering with us to do that!”
This is Shapiro’s first official affiliation with the network, though he frequently appears on the channel as a guest.
After leaving Breitbart News, where he worked as an editor in 2016, Shapiro rose rapidly in the ranks of GOP media, founding his own conservative website, RealDailyWire, with the help of Texas billionaire fracking barons Levi and Farris Wilks.
Shapiro also produces a successful podcast and is one of the more viral journalists and pundits on Twitter. A gushing New York Times profile from November 2017 called him a “cool kid’s philosopher.”
Shapiro is also a deeply polarizing figure, widely derided in liberal circles for his outspoken conservative beliefs. Left-wing media figures seeking common ground with Shapiro have faced swift blowback. Most recently, actor-director Mark Duplass apologized to his fans after praising Shapiro’s character in a tweet.
“I’m really sorry,” Duplass wrote on Twitter after a brutal backlash in July. “I now understand that I need to be more diligent and careful. I’m working on that. I want to be clear that I in no way endorse hatred, racism homophobia, xenophobia or any such form of intolerance.”