The Raymond Arroyo Disappearing Act

Anyone who watches Fox News on a semi-regular basis is probably familiar with Raymond Arroyo. He’s been a Fox contributor since 2017 but particularly in the recent past he was most often seen working alongside Laura Ingraham on The Ingraham Angle. He was typically called on for some comic relief and he worked elements of humor into most of his features. But you may have noticed in recent weeks that he’s been nowhere to be seen and the regular segments that he did with Ingraham are no longer showing up. As The Daily Beast put it, he seems to have simply vanished. But why? As it turns out, one of his jokes reportedly went several steps too far and it had to do with Donald Trump, Black voters, and… sneakers.

Fox News pundit Raymond Arroyo has vanished from the network’s airwaves since sparking backlash last month by claiming Black voters would support Donald Trump for president because “they love sneakers.”

A paid on-air contributor with the conservative cable giant since 2017, Arroyo is best known to Fox News viewers for his regular appearances on Laura Ingraham’s nightly program. In addition to his “Seen and Unseen” and “Friday Follies” segments, he has also served as a substitute host of The Ingraham Angle.

His near-daily presence on Ingraham’s program, however, suddenly came to a halt in late February after his on-air claim that Trump’s new sneakers would win him Black votes went viral in the worst way across social media and prompted widespread rebuke.

In February, Donald Trump debuted a new line of golden sneakers that were selling for $399 dollars. They looked rather preposterous and overpriced to me, but then I’m not a footwear aficionado. But where I saw a gimmick, Raymond Arroyo saw an opportunity. I’m still not sure whether he was trying to make a joke or if he was being serious, but he went on air and declared that this was a great idea on Trump’s part because the promotion was “connecting with Black America because they love sneakers!” He went on to say that it was “a big deal, certainly in the inner city.” He then suggested that Black voters would be more likely to switch over to Trump as a result. When his remarks went viral on Twitter, activists broke out the torches and came after him. Not long after that, he suddenly vanished on Fox News.

If he was trying to be funny, it obviously didn’t work, but then again, that’s not all that unusual. I’m not trying to kick a guy when he’s down, but I never found Arroyo’s comedy bits all that hilarious. But I also didn’t find him offensive. As I said, though, he might have been serious. Either way, were those comments racially insensitive or just dumb?

I’m aware that there is a large market out there for unique, customized sneakers, and some people are paying a lot of money for them. The concept has never interested me, but a quick bit of browsing on the web turns up all sorts of offers. Some artists are making a fine living customizing the shoes and auctioning them off. But I never noticed that the trend was particularly prevalent among a specific race. There are pictures out there right now showing people of all races engaging in the trade. Is this really “a Black thing?”

Given the broad market, I wouldn’t be surprised if Donald Trump sells out his sneakers quickly even at a cost of hundreds of dollars. They are associated with the Trump brand now, and it’s easy to see how collectors might roll the dice and buy them. But, again, why on earth would anyone think that Black consumers would be more attracted to those expensive golden shoes than anyone else? Maybe I’m just very dense and totally off base here, but I’m asking the question seriously. I just don’t get it.

Either way, Raymond Arroyo should have known better. Any time a conservative brings up anything to do with racial issues, they have to be sure to keep their ducks in a row or the liberal mob will come down on them like a ton of bricks. But if that’s what happened here, why would Fox News yank him off the air? They’re not typically all that put off by such things. Neither Arroyo nor Fox News returned requests for comment, so this may remain a mystery for now.