Fox News’ Outnumbered panel ripped longtime TV journalist Katie Couric on Friday ahead of the release later this month of the former TODAY co-anchor’s book Going There.

The book reportedly consists of slamming former colleagues and celebrities, while appearing to give a pass to her former colleague Matt Lauer, who co-anchored TODAY from 1997 until he was fired in 2017 following what NBC said was “a detailed complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace.” In the book, Couric called Lauer a “decent man” and said that it was “heartless to abandon him.”

Co-panelist Julia Banderas did not hold back in her criticism of Couric.

“I grew up, once, really truly looking up to Katie Couric, thinking, ‘man, I want to be like her one day. I don’t know why she wrote this book because in my opinion … she has completely tarnished her reputation and she’s actually come across as a mean girl. And nobody likes a mean girl.

And the fact that she’s putting down other women when women should be propping each other up, but yet propping up a man who she not only knew and heard of whispers of him sexually harassing, but she even talks about the fact that his wife called the control room one day to try to get the name of someone she believed her husband was having sex with – and she writes about that proudly?

Following co-host Kayleigh McEnany and panelist Carly Shimkus agreeing with Banderas and slamming Couric, panelist Lawrence Jones took the roasting of Couric to another level.

“I don’t know about the mean girl stuff, but I do know what it feels like to be a young man in the industry and having people say, ‘Oh, you know, you’re too young, you can’t do this,’” he said. “But I’m grateful to have people like Sean Hannity and Dana Perino who took me under their wing instead of beating me down.”

“But I was also raised to not burn any bridges, even if you think that you’re right,” continued Jones. “She seems like she has a philosophy ‘let the bridges I’ve burned lighten my path.’ I think that’s what she’s doing. I think she’s done with her career. And I think everyone that did her wrong, I think she just wants to get it all off her chest. And power to you. But you’re going to have an empty funeral.”

Panelist Tomi Lahren, who has faced allegations of mistreating staff when she was at The Blaze, joined the anti-Couric choir.

“I think she wants a best-selling book. I think that really is what it comes down to. Money talks and she thought, ‘You know what? This is my opportunity to sell a lot of books. I’m going to kind of blow up the industry and talk about what I’ve seen,”’ she said. “And to some extent, that might be interesting to others.”

Lahren went on to “piggyback” on what her fellow panelists said.

“For those that look at Fox News and there’s so much been talked about Fox News, it really is a wonderful environment,” she said. “I’ve had so many women, particularly at this network, be so kind to me along the way in the time that I’ve been here. So I think that we should set the example and I’m glad that we do that every day.”

Watch above, via Fox News.

The post Fox News Panel Slams Katie Couric Over Her Scorched Earth Tell-All: ‘You’re Going to Have an Empty Funeral’ first appeared on Mediaite.

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