Fox News pundits outraged that word ‘mistress’ has been ‘canceled’

‘They could not break one of the 10 commandments and just be faithful to their marrieds,’ host says

During a segment on Fox’s The Faulkner Focus on Wednesday, anchor Harris Faulkner and contributor Joe Concha condemned The Associated Press’ guidance against using the word ‘mistress’ (Fox News)

Fox News pundits have expressed outrage over the word “mistress” being “cancelled” after a news agency recommended that its journalists avoid using the term.

During a segment on Fox’s The Faulkner Focus on Wednesday, anchor Harris Faulkner and contributor Joe Concha condemned The Associated Press’ guidance against using the word.

The AP’s official Stylebook Twitter account tweeted on Tuesday that they recommend writers refrain from using the term “mistress” and instead use words such as “companion”, “friend” or “lover”.

“Don’t use the term mistress for a woman who is in a long-term sexual relationship with, and is financially supported by, a man who is married to someone else,” they wrote.

“Instead, use an alternative like companion, friend or lover on first reference and provide additional details later.”

However, the Fox News hosts were less than unimpressed by the style choice and lashed out at the decision in a segment titled: “AP Mocked for PC Definiton [sic] of ‘Mistress.”

“Maybe we have to compromise here again too. Maybe we call a mistress - a married man’s co-conspirator,” Mr Concha said.

“Overall, look you’ve got to wonder if like the AP’s stylebook’s mistress may have wrote [sic] that just to kind of cover-up here… who uses lover anymore?”

Ms Faulkner then jibes that the outlet should use the word “paramour” while Mr Concha jokingly chimes in with “seducer” and “fornicator” as suggestions

After the initial Twitter post gained some traction online, the agency stipulated that the guidance was “not new” saying they added it last year.

“We understand it’s problematic that the alternative terms fall short, the AP said. “But we felt that was better than having one word for a woman and none for the man, and implying that the woman was solely responsible for the affair.”

Ms Faulkner insisted that there are words that can be used for a man, giving the word “cheater” and then once again insists that “there are words”.

“Mistress has been cancelled, go figure,” Mr Concha says. “Who thought mistresses would be cancelled.”

“Or they could not break one of the 10 commandments and just be faithful to their marrieds,” Ms Faulkner concludes before moving on to another report.