A Fox News Media executive is out of a job after undercover footage surfaced showing him openly describing how corporate credit cards were used to foot the bill at strip clubs, with falsified expense reports used to cover the trail.
James O’Keefe and his O’Keefe Media Group released the recording on April 28, 2026, setting off a swift chain of events that ended with the executive’s termination the following day.
The man at the center of the scandal is Jason Hermes, who held the title of Vice President of Content Sales and Partnerships for Fox Weather, a division operating under Fox News Media.
Hermes joined Fox Weather in September 2024, having previously served as VP of content marketing sales at The Weather Channel.
In the footage, Hermes walks an undercover journalist through exactly how the scheme worked, describing the process with striking specificity and apparent pride.
“You could take this [Fox credit card], walk into a strip club, literally, and spend $4,000. Go to your corporate manager and they will sign it and pay it off… ‘Well that’s what the client wanted,’” Hermes said.
When the undercover journalist pressed Hermes on whether actual clients were involved in those outings, his answer was unambiguous. “No, we would just do it ourselves and lie on the expense reports,” he said.
Hermes did not stop there. He framed his position within the company as a shield against any accountability, pointing to the volume of business he managed. Hermes boasted about overseeing roughly $90 million in annual business, claiming it made him untouchable, stating: “No one asks a question… When I’m bringing in 90 million, no one’s gonna f***ing say a word to me.”
The executive also suggested the practice was not unique to Fox, telling the undercover reporter the same arrangement existed across other major media companies. “I’ll be honest, we used to be able to go to strip clubs,” he said in the footage. “On Fox, on NBC, with the corporate [card].”
Single charges at strip clubs reportedly reached as high as $4,000 on weekday afternoons, according to what Hermes described in the recording.
Hermes stated that the media industry’s culture enabled the conduct, saying “it’s still like that because it’s [the] media. It’s nobody’s money.”
Hermes described holding up what appeared to be an active corporate credit card during the conversation, telling the journalist that large charges could be submitted without consequence so long as the right language appeared on the expense report.
He called the arrangement “winning the lottery” and described himself as a behind-the-scenes power player. “It’s the best job, because I’m a celebrity around all of it, but no one knows me,” he said.
O’Keefe Media Group stated that the conduct described by Hermes directly violates Fox Corporation’s Standards of Business Conduct, which requires employees to maintain “rigorous accuracy and honesty in our financial records” and submit “accurate and complete” information.
The group also flagged a potential violation of U.S. Tax Code Section 274, which states that “no deduction shall be allowed for an activity generally considered to constitute entertainment, amusement, or recreation.”
O’Keefe Media Group referenced a 2015 indictment involving similar conduct, in which the individual faced five counts of wire fraud, noting that if the described expenses had been reported as legitimate business costs, federal law could be implicated.
Separately in the recording, Hermes made remarks about his political views, saying: “I’m not like, a fcking MAGA red hat, like, asshle. I’m not a Donald Trump supporter.”
When O’Keefe Media Group contacted Hermes for comment, he responded “No, thank you” and “Okay, bye” before ending the call.
Fox News Media confirmed to O’Keefe Media Group on April 29, 2026, that Hermes had been terminated. Fox News Media had not issued a broader public statement at the time of the termination announcement.
