Fox Business abruptly cancels the Lou Dobbs program after the Smartmatic lawsuit.

Fox Business has decided that it no longer wants to show its top-rated show. And it canceled without much notice, as it announced on Friday that, starting next week, Lou Dobbs will no longer have his Monday through Friday show, which had a larger audience than his CNBC rival. Dobbs, one of the most staunch supporters of former President Donald Trump in the media, spent a lot of time on his program publicizing the electoral fraud lies that remain popular with some allies of the previous government. Even as many began to soften their language, Dobbs continued to attack Republican Party leaders for his lack of support for Trump.

Dobbs didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to his viewers when Fox News Media made the announcement on Friday, when a guest presenter replaced him. Dobbs is still under contract with Fox News, and although he occasionally appeared on Fox News as a commentator, he is unlikely to appear on the company’s networks again, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Dobbs Show, Lou Dobbs Tonight, aired twice every night at 5pm and 7pm Eastern. From next week the show will end Fox Business Tonight. Dobbs’s program was canceled a day after electoral technology company Smartmatic filed a libel lawsuit against Fox Corporation and Fox News seeking compensation of at least $ 2.7 billion. The suit specifically names Dobbs along with two other Fox anchors, Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro, and accuses them of spreading lies about the company’s role in the election. Dobbs, according to the suit, was “one of the main proponents” of a “disinformation campaign” against Smartmatic.

Despite the timing, the network’s sources tell various agencies that the network had already planned to cancel Dobbs before the lawsuit. Officially, Fox News says it maintains its coverage and will defend itself against the lawsuit. “As we said in October, Fox News Media regularly considers schedule changes and there are plans to launch appropriate new formats after the election, including Fox Business,” said a spokesman in a statement. “This is part of the planned changes.” Even though he had a high-profile program, he had trouble attracting advertisers because companies did not want to be associated with the far-right views that Dobbs espoused in his program. This weakness with advertisers was also a reason to decline Dobbs’ program, according to CNN.

Shortly after news of Dobbs’s cancellation, Trump expressed his support in what was one of the first statements he released since he left the White House. “Lou Dobbs is and was great,” said Trump. “Nobody loves America more than Lou. He had a great and faithful following that will follow him closely on his next move, and that segment includes me. ”Dobbs thanked Trump for your support and retweeted several allies who Fox criticized for cancellation.