Rare Fox Apology Over ‘China’ Smears

June 29, 2026

When a major news network has to publicly admit it aired a serious accusation with zero proof, it shows how fast powerful voices can turn local citizens into supposed foreign enemies.

Story Snapshot

Fox News and Fox Business issued a rare on-air apology after Kevin O’Leary’s China funding claims about Utah data center opponents were found to have no evidence behind them.^[1]
O’Leary now says he has “no evidence” that local groups or named individuals fighting his project are funded by China or the Chinese Communist Party.^[1]
Opponents say they opposed the project over water use, energy costs, noise, and community impact, and some are threatening defamation lawsuits.^[6]^[9]
The episode shows how “blame China” talking points can be weaponized on national television without proof, then quietly walked back only after public backlash.^[1]^[2]

How Kevin O’Leary Turned Local Critics Into Alleged Chinese Agents

Kevin O’Leary, a wealthy investor and television personality from Shark Tank, wants to build a massive artificial intelligence data center complex in Box Elder County, Utah.^[5]^[14] During Fox News appearances in May, he claimed that local groups opposing his project were being funded by China and the Chinese Communist Party.^[1]^[5] He named specific organizations and individuals, including Alliance for a Better Utah, Elevate Strategies, Josh Kanter, Taylor Knuth, and Gabrielle Finlayson, but offered no documents or hard proof to back up the charge.^[1]^[5] His comments fit a wider pattern where public figures point to China when they face resistance, tapping into real fears about foreign influence yet skipping the hard work of gathering and showing evidence.^[15]^[19]

Local activists and residents pushed back strongly against the project and against O’Leary’s claims.^[6]^[14] They say their concerns are basic and close to home: huge water use in a dry region, higher energy demand and costs, constant noise, and what an AI mega campus would do to nearby communities.^[6]^[14] Some opponents publicly denied any foreign funding and said they were considering defamation lawsuits, arguing that being labeled as agents of China without proof could harm their reputations and businesses.^[9] For many Americans on both the right and the left, this looked like another case where a powerful insider tried to dismiss regular citizens by painting them as part of a shadowy foreign threat instead of answering their real local worries.

Fox News’ Rare On-Air Apology And What It Signals

After weeks of backlash, Fox News and Fox Business did something they almost never do: they apologized clearly on air and across several shows.^[1] Host Johnny Joey Jones told viewers that O’Leary had “no evidence” that the named groups and people were funded by China or the Chinese Communist Party and said Fox News Media itself was aware of no such evidence either.^[1] The same scripted correction and apology ran on Saturday in America, Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, and the Big Money Show over several days.^[1]^[3] Maria Bartiromo personally read the statement on her program and ended by saying, “Fox News Media apologizes for the error,” signaling this was not just a minor slip but a serious institutional correction.^[2]^[3]

O’Leary also tried to clean up the record in his own way.^[1] In a social media post, he wrote that he has “no evidence” that Alliance for a Better Utah, Elevate Strategies, Gabrielle Finlayson, Taylor Knuth, or Josh Kanter are funded by China or the Chinese Communist Party.^[1] Reports note that he stopped short of giving a direct apology for making the claim in the first place.^[6] Even so, his statement undercut the original narrative and backed up what opponents had been saying from the start: they are not foreign puppets, and their fight is about what a giant data center would mean for their land, water, and wallets.^[6]^[9] For viewers, the episode underlined how quickly a bold claim can spread on cable news and how slowly and quietly the correction follows.

China Fears, Real Foreign Influence, And The “Scapegoat” Problem

The story hits a nerve because concerns about China’s reach into American life are not fake.^[15] Research shows the Chinese government and its allies have spent hundreds of millions of dollars over recent years trying to shape United States politics and opinion, including at the state and local level.^[15] Lawmakers have warned about covert online campaigns where Chinese-linked accounts pose as American voters, push conspiracy theories, and stoke division.^[18]^[23] Many conservatives see this as proof that globalism and weak borders have opened the door to foreign manipulation, while many liberals worry that foreign money and disinformation deepen inequality and mistrust.

Those real threats make it even more dangerous when powerful people throw around “China-funded” accusations without evidence.^[24] Critics on both sides argue that some elites use China as a convenient scapegoat to shut down debate and fast-track projects, from data centers to factories, by framing any local resistance as unpatriotic or part of a foreign plot.^[19]^[24] When networks like Fox News air such claims and only later admit they had no proof, it fuels a broader feeling that big media and political insiders see regular Americans as obstacles to be managed, not citizens to be heard. Many viewers see this episode as another sign that the system rewards quick talking points and ratings over careful fact-checking and respect for the people who live with the consequences on the ground.