Christian pastors, commentators, and conservative pundits expressed fierce outrage toward Fox News host Lisa Kennedy Montgomery following a vulgar social media response she directed at Daily Wire reporter and commentator Megan Basham. The controversy erupted after Basham criticized Fox News contributor and political analyst Guy Benson and his husband for welcoming a baby girl via surrogacy. Basham argued that deliberately creating motherless children through surrogacy is fundamentally anti-conservative, declaring that the process wrongly communicates that mothers and fathers serve no specific, necessary purpose in a child’s life.
In retaliation, Kennedy posted a sexually suggestive message on X telling Basham to “go replace the batteries in your vibrator.” This crude retort drew a swift torrent of backlash from Christians and conservatives, who viewed the comment as low-brow gutter language and evidence of a broader hostility toward traditional values within mainstream media platforms like Fox News. Prominent critics weighed in across social media, including Federalist senior editor John Daniel Davidson, who labeled the network’s personnel as “creepy weirdos,” and evangelist Justin Peters, who noted that individuals resort to gutter language when they lack intelligent rebuttals.
Several religious leaders and public figures also condemned the attack. J. Chase Davis, lead pastor of The Well Church, called Kennedy a pervert, while Douglas Wilson, senior pastor of Christ Church, mocked the remark. Former Virginia House of Delegates member Nick Freitas criticized Kennedy’s lack of comedic timing and reiterated that the intentional deprivation of a mother through surrogacy is abnormal and damaging to children. Cultural commentator Peachy Keenan pointed out the cruelty of targeting a conservative Christian woman who has been undergoing major cancer treatment, while attorney Jenna Ellis suggested Kennedy lashed out defensively because she had previously officiated Benson’s homosexual wedding.
The incident further inflamed long-standing conservative grievances regarding the perceived disconnect between Fox News’ corporate culture and its core audience. Columnist Auron MacIntyre argued that the exchange highlights a deep-seated disdain for traditional conservatives within the network. This friction evoked past controversies, including a 2021 report by Glenn Beck and The Blaze revealing that Fox Corporation matched employee donations to far-left organizations—such as Planned Parenthood and The Satanic Temple—alongside prior reports by Matt Walsh detailing internal company endorsements of LGBT literature and gender-transition initiatives for youth.
