Shepard Smith, who’s been rumored to be gay since last year, was reportedly demoted by Fox News after he brought his boyfriend to a company picnic. Fox has denied the story.

Shepard Smith Demoted By Fox News?

Smith has supposedly been dating Fox staffer Giovanni Graziano, who he brought to a company picnic in the summer of 2013, and subsequently told Roger Ailes that it was time for him to publicly come out of the closet as a gay man, reported Gawker. Ailes apparently shut down Smith’s request and soon demoted him from a primetime spot anchoring The Fox Report to an afternoon slot with Shepard Smith Reporting.

“This came up during contract negotiations,” a Fox insider told Gawker. “Shep wanted to and was ready to come out, and Roger just said no.”

“They tried to play it up as a big promotion,” an insider told the website. “But everyone knew that Shep was getting demoted. And the coming out thing was a significant part of that.”

According to the insiders, it was Fox’s Executive Vice President of Programming Bill Shine that was adamant that Smith stay in the closet after meeting Graziano at the picnic. “His fear was that Shep’s audience would implode,” a source said. Other sources claimed that Shine was a “major homophobe” and “flipped” upon seeing Smith introduce his boyfriend at the picnic.

Roger Ailes, Shepard Smith Dismiss Gawker Story

After Gawker’s report began to spread around the Internet, Ailes and Smith released a joint statement to dismiss the report. “This story is 100% false and a complete fabrication,” Ailes and Smith wrote in their joint statement. “As colleagues and close friends at Fox News for 18 years, our relationship has always been rooted in a mutual respect, deep admiration, loyalty, trust, and full support both professionally and personally.”

Shine also released his own statement in which he praised Smith’s work for the network and maintained that the reporter’s personal life – whatever it entails – is not a point of contention.

“Over the past 18 years, we’ve had the privilege of working with Shepard Smith throughout his incredible rise from a field reporter to chief news anchor and his recent promotion to managing editor,” Shine wrote. “Throughout his entire tenure here, Roger Ailes and I have fully supported him in both a professional and personal capacity. We have never asked Shep to discuss or not discuss his private life, and the notion of us having an issue with anyone’s sexuality is not only insulting, but pure fiction.”

While Smith denies that Fox has discriminated against him in any way, he has neither confirmed nor denied reports on his sexuality and relationship with Graziano.

– Chelsea Regan