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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade says comment about killing mentally ill | |
homeless people an ‘extremely callous remark’ | |
By Brian Stelter, CNN | |
Updated: | |
7:26 PM EDT, Sun September 14, 2025 | |
Source: CNN | |
After shocking many by saying mentally ill homeless people should be | |
put to death, Fox News morning host Brian Kilmeade apologized on Sunday | |
for what he called an “extremely callous remark.” | |
Kilmeade’s mea culpa came one day after his original comment — | |
“just kill ‘em” — went viral across multiple social media | |
sites. | |
The “Fox & Friends” segment aired Wednesday morning, but it | |
didn’t seem to garner widespread attention until Saturday morning, | |
when it was picked up by Fox News critics such as Aaron Rupar. | |
The clip, labeled “Brian Kilmeade endorses euthanizing homeless | |
people,” had garnered more than 20 million views on X by Sunday | |
afternoon. | |
Commenters immediately called for the conservative network, which has a | |
reputation for almost never apologizing, to take action against | |
Kilmeade. | |
In the Wednesday segment, Kilmeade and the other hosts were talking | |
about last month’s murder of in Charlotte, North Carolina. The | |
suspect in the killing struggled with mental illness and was living in | |
a homeless shelter, the suspect’s mother told CNN. | |
Co-host Lawrence Jones said taxpayers have given “billions of dollars | |
to mental health and the homeless population,” but “a lot of them | |
don’t want to take the programs, a lot of them don’t want to get | |
the help that is necessary.” | |
“You can’t give them a choice,” Jones continued. “Either you | |
take the resources that we’re going to give you … or you decide | |
that you are going to be locked up in jail. That’s the way it has to | |
be now.” | |
That’s what prompted Kilmeade to add, “Or involuntary lethal | |
injection or something. Just kill ‘em.” | |
The condemnation was swift once the clip went viral on Saturday. | |
Political figures such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom weighed in. | |
(Newsom replied to the video clip with a proverb: “Whoever closes his | |
ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be | |
answered.”) | |
Christine Quinn, the CEO of WIN, which runs shelters and transitional | |
housing in New York City, called Kilmeade’s rhetoric “completely | |
devoid of all humanity” and said it “only serves to divide and | |
inflame.” | |
Quinn said in a statement that she welcomed a dialogue with Kilmeade | |
about the issues. Or “better yet,” she said, “come volunteer in | |
one of our shelters and see the face of homelessness for yourself — | |
we could always use the help.” | |
Kilmeade appeared remotely on Sunday’s “Fox & Friends Weekend,” | |
and Jones tossed to him, knowing Kilmeade had some cleaning up to do. | |
Kilmeade said that on Wednesday “we were discussing the murder of | |
Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte 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,” Kilmeade said. “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.” | |
Fox News also publicized the apology on its website, saying Kilmeade | |
“admits fault,” perhaps in an attempt to defuse any further | |
fallout. | |
A Fox News spokesperson did not respond to CNN’s request for comment. | |
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