Fired Fox News Personality Eric Bolling's Son Found Dead

Eric Bolling at Trump Tower in November 2016

On Friday, Fox News confirmed that one of its news personalities, Eric Bolling, was no longer working with the network, after allegations surfaced that Bolling had texted photos of genitalia to female colleagues. On the same day, Bolling's son was apparently found dead at his college in Colorado.

Bolling, a Fox News fixture since 2007, had been co-host of The Specialists, which Fox News also cancelled in the wake of his departure. In early August, Huffington Post revealed the claims about the "deeply upsetting and offensive" texts: "The women did not solicit the messages, which they told colleagues were deeply upsetting and offensive. One of the recipients said that when she replied to Bolling via text, telling him never to send her such photos again, he did not respond. Four people, outside of the recipients, confirmed to HuffPost they’d seen the photo, and eight others said the recipients had spoken to them about it."

A lawyer for Bolling strongly denied the accusations. "A day after the article was published, Fox News said it had suspended Mr. Bolling pending an investigation into the accusations. The network said it had learned about the allegations after an inquiry from HuffPost and enlisted the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison to conduct the investigation," according to the NY Times.

On Friday, Fox News issued a statement saying, "Fox News Channel is canceling ‘The Specialists,’ and Eric Bolling and Fox have agreed to part ways amicably."

On Saturday morning, it was reported that Eric Chase Bolling, Jr., 19, had died. Bolling later confirmed the news on Twitter:

The Daily Camera reports, "Boulder police Sgt. Nick Smetzer said on Saturday that officers responded to the 900 block of 28th Street on Friday on an unattended death. He did not have an exact time, saying it was sometime in the afternoon or evening, and that any formal identification in the case would be issued by the coroner's office. The coroner's office announced in a news release on Saturday evening that it was investigating the death of a 19-year-old man found in an apartment building near the 28th Street Frontage Road and Village Drive but did not release the man's identity. The release stated that the man's cause and manner of death is still being investigated."

Sources told TMZ that Chase "died from a drug overdose. We're told he was having a hard time dealing with the trouble his dad was having at the network. Our sources say he was extremely embarrassed by the stories and was 'emotionally upset.'"

Bolling Tweeted again, saying there was no signs of "self-harm":

His friends, including the president's sons and his former Specialists co-hosts, Tweeted their condolences; President Donald Trump retweeted Kellyanne Conway's message:

Huffington Post reporter Yashar Ali, who is being sued by Bolling for breaking the story about the inappropriate texting allegations, also Tweeted about the death: