What does Brian Kilmeade have to say to get fired?
Written by Julie Millican, Christine Schwen & Justin Berrier
Published
Today, Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade hit a new low, insisting on both his television and his radio show that “all terrorists are Muslim.” On his radio show, he declared that this was simply a “fact.” He went on to ask if “Americans have a right to look at moderate Muslims and say, 'show me you're not one of them.'” Despite the incredible ignorance and bigotry that motivates such statements, according to Huffington Post, Kilmeade is only planning on “clarify[ing] this point on television and radio on Monday.” Clarifying it? You have got to be kidding me.
First of all, despite Fox News SVP of Programming Bill Shine's suggestion, Kilmeade was definitely not simply “referring to the radical extremists who killed Americans on 9/11.” On his radio show, Kilmeade specifically named several acts or attempted acts of terrorism, including 9/11, and said:
KILMEADE: Muslim extremists, Al Qaeda, blew up those buildings -- blew up the Khobar Towers, blew up the Cole, blew up the embassies, tried to blow up Times Square, tried to blow up the plane. The shoe bomber, the Times Square bomber, the underwear bomber -- they have one thing in common. They are all extremists, and they are all Muslims.
Not every Muslim is an extremist, a terrorist, but every terrorist is a Muslim. You can't avoid that fact. And that is ridiculous that we got to keep defining this - the people that equate Timothy McVeigh with the Al Qaeda terrorist organization, which is growing and a threat that exists.
And, while defending Bill O'Reilly's controversial appearance on The View on this morning's Fox & Friends, Kilmeade said: “Here's the thing, that debate was almost like our debate on training wheels, and they can't handle the give and take of the debate. They were outraged that somebody was saying that there's a reason that a certain group of people attacked us on 9/11, it wasn't just one person, it was one religion. Not all Muslims are terrorist, but all terrorists are Muslims.”
Rather than be fired for these outrageous statements, Kilmeade is getting a chance to “clarify.” I, for one, can't wait. After all, the last time Kilmeade had to “clarify” his insane and idiotic commentary, we got this: After opining that “we keep marrying other species and other ethnics and ... the Swedes have pure genes, because they marry other Swedes. Because that's the rule,” Kilmeade later weaklyapologized for his “inappropriate” comments.
And this certainly isn't the only time Kilmeade has said something “inappropriate.” Let's run down some of our greatest hits, shall we?
- Kilmeade asks if “it's time for the military to have special debriefings” of Muslims, because “I've got to know the guy next to me is not going to want to kill me.” Following the shooting at Fort Hood, Kilmeade asked on the November 6, 2009, edition of Fox & Friends: “Do you think it's time for the military to have special debriefings of Muslim Army civilians, officers, anybody enlisted, because if I'm going to be deployed in a foxhole, if I'm going to be sticking in an outpost, I've got to know the guy next to me is not going to want to kill me.” Guest host Peter Johnson Jr. asked Fox News legal analyst Geraldo Rivera, “You won't countenance special screenings for Muslim officers, will you? ... Will you countenance that?”
- Kilmeade: Muslims “have to understand” being profiled because of “the war that was declared on us.” On the November 10, 2009, edition of Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade told Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham: “You get a chance to talk to a lot of Islamic experts, Muslim experts, and people who understand the Quran, and I asked him one time, off camera, I said, 'How do you feel about the extra scrutiny, clearly, you're getting at the airports?' And he said, 'I'm all for it, because I want to get home to my family, too.' And that's really got to be the attitude. So, if you're Islamic, or you're Muslim and you're in the military, you have to understand ... and that's just the fact right now in the war that was declared on us.”
- Kilmeade: "[I]f you're a 20- to 30-year-old Islamic male, even if you have no evil intentions, expect to be delayed. We have to profile." On the January 4 edition of Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade said, "[N]inety percent of these terrorists are men, Islamic men between 20 and 30. Why are we pretending that all of us should get equal training [sic]? Shouldn't we just tell -- if you're a 20- to 30-year-old Islamic male, even if you have no evil intentions, expect to be delayed. We have to profile."
- Kilmeade's “message to our special forces...kill” terrorists “in the field” because “we can't find a way to try them at home.” On the August 30 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, during a discussion about the upcoming trial of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Kilmeade asserted that “the is message to our special forces, the message is to our CIA: Kill them in the field, because we can't find a way to try them at home.”
- Kilmeade doesn't understand why Whitman-Brown debate was in Spanish, asks “isn't this in America?” On the October 4 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, Kilmeade said he wanted to talk about something he thought was “fascinating,” and asked “Why are they debating in Spanish? Isn't this in America?”
- Kilmeade refers to women as “babes, chicks,” and “skirts” during segment on consumer car preference. On the June 22 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, Kilmeade, reporting on a study of car purchasing tendencies between genders, said “yeah, so they did this 13 million vehicles were registered on this truecar.com, and they figured out that babes, chicks, what do you call them Steve, skirts?...that these are the cars that women most likely will pick out when they have the choice."
- Kilmeade: “Maybe” eliminating “unemployment benefits will get people to sober up” and get jobs. On the July 15 edition of Fox & Friends, referencing Senate Republicans who had blocked extending unemployment benefits, co-host Brian Kilmeade told Partnership Staffing Inc. CEO Bill Auchmoody that “maybe” the elimination of “unemployment benefits will get people to sober up and take some of your offers.”
Seriously, Fox. At one point do you draw the line and say enough is enough?