Lawrence Jones has made a strong name for himself over the last year, after debuting his show Lawrence Jones Cross Country on Fox News in January of last year.
While he has maintained success for one year, a tough task on cable television, Jones also is quick to celebrate his faith and family when talking about his career.
The show has made many outlets recognize Jones as “the youngest Black solo host of a program in cable news”, as Fox News explains on the show’s page. Jones stood strong and trusted his gut while he was rising the ranks at Fox.
According to Jones, the young host even tried to turn down huge opportunities that would go against his ideology, but Sean Hannity’s belief in the budding star convinced Jones otherwise turned into a launching pad for his career, according to an interview with The Dallas Morning News:
“I told him no, I didn’t think it was a good idea because I’m a libertarian, and we’re going to disagree a lot. And he said, ‘Oh, that’s OK. Just be you.’
“And I said, ‘No, we’re really going to disagree.’ He goes, ‘Just give it a shot.’ And that turned from two months, into a year. And he said, ‘Listen, LJ, if you just be you, you’ll have your own show.’”
While the show is still growing, the audience has already begun to average one million viewers. Jones was able to achieve that feat by doing exactly what Hannity told him to, just be himself.
Now, as Jones interviews people from around the nation, he can get a perspective that few on cable news ever hear. Jones says that this is by design:
“No one wants to say anything offensive, or maybe appear to be offensive. So I think I’ve sort of become the safe space of people from all different political persuasions that they just open up and talk to me about things. I will say people are on edge, people are a little frayed.”
“Don’t expect to see politicians have free rein to recite talking points. This will not be that kind of show. I will be challenging elected officials, regardless of their party, because that’s what viewers and voters expect during these tough times for the country.
“I’m not only a Christian, but I’m a preacher’s kid, too. Christ is my ultimate compass, even though I fall short sometimes.”
Jones is also very quick to thank those who raised him, both in his household and community, for allowing him to blossom into who he is today.
He knows that he owes a lot of his success to them and that it “takes a village” to raise a young man the way they did him:
“I was known to be as somewhat of a community child growing up. I had a diverse upbringing. My parents had me very young and we didn’t have a lot.
“So, the community really stepped in to bridge the gap, sent me to all the conferences and supported me with basketball.“
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