(The Hill) — Brian Kilmeade, a host from Fox News, offered an apology on Sunday for a comment he made earlier this month linking homeless individuals to crime during a broadcast.
The comment was made during a segment on “Fox and Friends” broadcast on Wednesday, which discussed the murder case of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska. This case has sparked significant interest among Republicans and is intertwined with President Donald Trump’s focus on reducing crime.
In the discussion, Lawrence Jones, another Fox host, mentioned that many people within the homeless community are resistant to participating in available programs or accepting necessary assistance, suggesting that they should be obligated to accept such help or face incarceration.
“Or involuntary lethal injection,” Kilmeade responded. “Just kill ’em.”
On Sunday, Kilmeade apologized on air for the remark.
Discussing the situation on air, Kilmeade said, “In the morning, we talked about the murder of Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, North Carolina, and strategies to prevent such attacks from homeless individuals suffering from mental illness. This includes actions like institutionalizing or incarcerating them to prevent future attacks,” he admitted. “I erroneously stated during that discussion that they should receive lethal injections, and I apologize for that extremely insensitive comment.”
As a morning show and radio host, Kilmeade emphasized that he is “fully aware that not all homeless individuals with mental illness engage in violent acts like the one seen in North Carolina and that many homeless people merit our empathy and support.”
Kilmeade is a leading host on Fox and has been with the network since the late 1990s.
