Geoff Fox, the veteran meteorologist who received an overwhelming amount of support online after word spread that his contract would not be renewed by New Haven’s WTNH, has been let go early.
Fox, who had been with the the ABC-affiliate for 26 years, learned earlier this month that the station was going to let his contract expire at the end of February. At the time, he told TVSpy that he was happy that the station was giving him the opportunity to work through the end of his contract, and he planned to do so.
Fox announced via a blog post on Sunday, though, that Mark Higgins, WTNH’s general manager, informed him that he would no longer be allowed to serve out the rest of his contract “because all of this has become a distraction.”
“This” being the significant amount of support that the popular meteorologist has received from Connecticut viewers since being informed that his contract would not be renewed, including a “Keep Geoff Fox on Channel 8” Facebook campaign that has been liked by nearly 10,000 people.
Earlier this month, Fox told TVSpy that the social media-fueled support that he’s experienced “is going to have to make all stations stop and think for a moment.”
It turns out, though, that the “Keep Geoff Fox on Channel 8” Facebook campaign, and others like it, actually resulted in a quicker exit for Fox.
After announcing that he was being let go early, Fox addressed his supporters on his blog:
Don’t think your voices weren’t heard. They were. They have had a most profound effect on me and my family.
People are let go from jobs every day, but few are blessed with the kind of warm and loving outpouring you have given me. You have made this awful situation bearable. In many ways your response has made it all worthwhile!
Some of you told me how I’ve touched or even became part of your family. The more I read the more I understood the depth of your emotion. It’s a two-way street. I care just as deeply for and about you.
I had 26 years at 8 Elm Street. That’s a helluva run. Nothing can take that away.