WASHINGTON – Three congressmen vying to replace Kevin McCarthy as the next House speaker nixed plans to participate in a televised Fox News candidate forum shortly after the network announced plans for the Monday night special.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.) all confirmed Friday afternoon they would not take part in the now-canceled event after an outcry from their colleagues.

The program, to be hosted by Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier, would have aired a day before the House Republican Conference is scheduled to hold its own forum of speaker candidates behind closed doors.

The House intends to begin voting for the new speaker on Wednesday of next week after McCarthy (R-Calif.) was ousted in a floor vote this past Tuesday.

Hern, who has not formally entered the race against Jordan and Scalise, but is considering it, said he would “not be participating in the televised debate” in a post to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

“We need to make this decision as a conference, not on TV,” he said.

“The Republican conference needs a family discussion.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for Jordan said the House Judiciary Committee chairman “believes it is crucial to meet with the GOP conference before” participating in a public forum.

Scalise also backed out of the program – in which he’d only agreed to participate after learning that Jordan and Hern had planned to do so, Axios reported, citing an unnamed source “familiar with the matter.”

The network had referred to the program as an “exclusive joint interview” in a press release that has since been retracted.

Baier, who also hosts FNC’s daily evening news program “Special Report,” was to “press the congressmen on who should be the next Speaker of the House and discuss the issues facing Congress and the Republican party going forward,” the Fox release teased.

“Right now we’ve got a lot to work out that’s very delicate, emotions and otherwise, and this is not going to help our conference work through some very difficult times,” Rep. John Duarte (R-Calif.) told Axios, adding: “We know it’s a debate, we don’t need to play semantic games.”

Another GOP lawmaker, who remained anonymous, told the outlet the forum was a “bad idea that will add to the chaos headlines.”

Baier told his FNC colleague Martha MacCallum on her “The Story” program that he had secured Jordan and Scalise’s participation in the program and was set to make it public Friday evening, after Hern made his own candidacy official.

However, news of the forum leaked to Punchbowl News Friday morning, triggering what Baier described as “bizarre stories” and “weird reporting that I was going to be … moderating a debate privately for the Republican caucus.”

“Bottom line is, it leaked and then there became pressure from other members on these three to not do that,” the anchor added, later adding: “So they had all agreed, the pressure built and that’s what happened. It’s not going to happen on Monday.”

“I think that the word ‘debate’ has scared folks over the past couple of days,” joked Baier, who moderated the first Republican primary debate in August alongside MacCallum. “We’re going to use a different word going forward.”