Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade is doing damage control after controversial on-air comments he made about homeless people, which have some calling for him to be fired. On the September 10 episode of the program, Kilmeade and his co-hosts Ainsley Earhardt and Lawrence Jones were having a discussion about how to deal with violent homeless people, in the wake of the murder of a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee who was brutally stabbed to death on a North Carolina light rail train by a 35-year-old Black man with diagnosed mental health issues.
Suggested Reading
Jones, who is Black, argued that homeless people – particularly those with violent criminal backgrounds – should not get to decide whether or not they take advantage of the government resources available to help them, especially if it means average Americans have to live in fear.
“You can’t give them a choice,” Jones said. “Either you take the resources that we’re gonna give you, or you decide that you’re gonna be locked up in jail. That’s the way it has to be.
Kilmneade then added his two cents, suggesting the consequences should be much worse.
“Involuntary lethal injection or something,” Kilmeade said. “Just kill ’em.”
The comments were met with a loud cry on social media for Kilmeade to be fired, with some calling the conservative news host a hypocrite for advocating for one group of people to killed while claiming to be pro-life.
“If you walked up to Kilmeade at a bar and asked him he’d literally look you right in the Eye and tell you to your face he’s ‘Pro Life’ and then say this,” wrote someone on X.
Kilmeade issued an apology on air on the September 14 episode of Fox & Friends, saying:
“We were discussing the murder of Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, North Carolina and how to stop these kinds of attacks by homeless, mentally ill assailants, including institutionalizing or jailing such people so they cannot attack again. Now, during that discussion, I wrongly said they should get lethal injections. I apologize for that extremely callous remark. I am 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 compassion.”
But one X user suggested that the cries calling Kilmeade out for his comments should have been much louder.
“We’re talking about Americans, veterans, trauma survivors, the most vulnerable people in this country, and he’s calling for state-sanctioned execution instead of housing, healthcare, or compassion. This is how atrocities begin with “jokes” and “suggestions” that treat human lives as disposable. If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention,” they wrote.
Straight From 
Sign up for our free daily newsletter.