Thursday afternoon, Fox News told Mediaite that it had released Bob Beckel following a long battle with his drug addictions. Beckel had been off air for some time as he struggled with his addiction.

However, after having informed Mediaite that the parting was amicable, Fox News issued a statement to Politico that contradicted the idea that the parting was amicable:

“We tried to work with Bob for months, but we couldn’t hold ‘The Five’ hostage to one man’s personal issues,” Bill Shine, executive vice president of programming, said in a statement. “He took tremendous advantage of our generosity, empathy and goodwill and we simply came to the end of the road with him.”

You have to kind of feel bad for Beckel. He had to suffer through day after day of Fox and Friends insanity. The way Fox and Friends kicked him out the door was beyond harsh.