By Sharon Zhang
Copyright truthout
After four days of backlash, Fox News anchor Brian Kilmeade has apologized for saying that authorities should “just kill” people experiencing homelessness and mental health crises with “involuntary lethal injection” — but it appears that he will remain in his role at “Fox & Friends.”
Kilmeade made his original comment during a “Fox & Friends” discussion on a woman who was stabbed and killed on a train in Charlotte, North Carolina, last month.
Co-host Lawrence Jones said, of people experiencing homelessness: “You either take the resources we give you, or you decide that you’re going to be locked up in jail.”
“Or involuntary lethal injection, or something, just kill them,” Kilmeade added.
The clip circulated widely across social media. Many users denounced Kilmeade’s comments as disturbing and eugenicist, and some called for Kilmeade to resign.
Homelessness is at record highs and rising in the U.S. An estimated 770,000 people are experiencing homelessness across the country, as housing costs have skyrocketed, lawmakers have cut the social safety net, and Wall Street firms have bought up huge swaths of housing stock.
On Sunday, Kilmeade apologized, suggesting that “not all” people experiencing homelessness are the same.
“[We have] to stop these kinds of attacks by homeless, mentally ill assailants, including institutionalizing or jailing such people so they cannot attack again. During that discussion, I wrongly said they should get lethal injections. I apologize for that extremely callous remark,” he said.
“I’m obviously aware that not all mentally ill homeless people act as the perpetrator did in North Carolina, and that so many homeless people deserve our empathy and our compassion,” he went on.
Kilmeade has previously supported the killing of people experiencing homelessness. Last year, Kilmeade said that Daniel Penny was a “hero” for killing a Black unhoused man, Jordan Neely, on the subway in New York City in 2023.
Fox has not commented on Kilmeade’s remark suggesting that hundreds of thousands of Americans should be eligible for capital punishment.
Some commentators have noted that dozens of people are currently losing their jobs for far less inflammatory comments about the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk last week. Indeed, on Monday, Kilmeade promoted a story on the suspension of a New Jersey doctor accused of “celebrating” Kirk’s death, inviting the nurse who reported the doctor— who is filing a lawsuit over the comment — on his show for an interview.
