Fox News Channel host Brian Kilmeade apologised on Sunday for advocating for the execution of mentally ill homeless people in a discussion on the network last week, saying his remark was “extremely callous”.
Advertisement
Kilmeade’s initial comment came on a Fox & Friends episode on Wednesday and began getting widespread circulation online over the weekend. Kilmeade, a host of the morning show, was talking to co-hosts Lawrence Jones and Ainsley Earhardt about the August 22 stabbing murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina.
A homeless and mentally ill man, Decarlos Brown Jnr, was arrested for murder, and the case received extensive attention on Fox following the release of a security video of the stabbing.
Jones was talking on Fox & Friends on Wednesday about public money spent on trying to help homeless people and suggested that those who did not accept services offered to them should be jailed.
“Or involuntary lethal injection, or something,” Kilmeade said. “Just kill ’em.”
Advertisement
Earhardt interjected: “Why did it have to get to this point?”
Kilmeade replied: “I will say this, we’re not voting for the right people.”