‘Like, the devil’: Fox News is in hot water after swiping 100 celebrity voices, only to find out one was a union leader

Fox News Media is facing massive backlash after announcing a new podcast that uses the voices of over 100 film and TV stars without their consent. This is a truly stunning development, and frankly, you can’t make this stuff up. The network’s new project, The Life of Jesus Podcast, has blindsided major names like Kristen Bell, Malcolm McDowell, and perhaps most ironically, Brian Cox.

Cox’s inclusion is a particularly wild misstep for the network. He’s the Succession actor who publicly stated in 2021 that Fox News was “like, the devil.” Now, his voice is being used to broadcast the “life, teachings, and miracles of Jesus Christ” through the very company he condemned, per Daily Dot. I think it’s safe to say he’s going to be the most upset person involved here, and you can’t blame him.

The network announced the new project on November 19 as part of its expansion of Fox Faith. This podcast boasts the use of over 100 celebrity voices, many of whom are known critics of the network, which stunned many observers. The audio being used was originally recorded over 15 years ago for a completely different project. You have to pay actors when they are in projects, and they have to know what they are used for.

Fox News is trying to use audio for purposes actors never signed off on

Celebrities were completely blindsided by the news this week. A representative for Brian Cox told Rolling Stone that “Brian recorded audio for a project over a decade ago.” They confirmed that “He was unaware that the audio would be repurposed for a new podcast series in 2025.” He, like the rest of us, did not hear about the project until Wednesday, according to the source material.

The Good Place star Kristen Bell has a similar story. Her representative confirmed that she had consented to voice Mary Magdalene for The Truth and Life Dramatized Audio Bible back in 2010. However, nobody informed her that this work would be remixed and reused for the new Fox podcast. She only learned about the redistribution on Tuesday when she was invited onto Fox & Friends as a guest to promote the very project she didn’t know about.

Bombshell actor Malcolm McDowell also had no idea his voice was being used. His representative told Entertainment Weekly that “We had no knowledge these recordings were being redistributed as a podcast until this week.” Other notable voices appropriated for the religious podcast include Sean Astin, Neal McDonough, Julia Ormond, and John Rhys-Davies.

This entire situation goes from a PR headache to a major legal disaster when you consider one of the other names involved: Sean Astin. Astin is currently serving as the 4th national president of SAG-AFTRA, the union representing actors and performers. Fox is definitely going to find out very soon if “repurposing” this work is against union rules, and the timing here is just awful for them.