Fox News host Brian Kilmeade's praise of a British nationalist hate group leader as doing “great” work is being criticized by that nation's journalists, who call the group “thuggish” and “unsavory.”
Kilmeade drew criticism after he praised English Defence League co-founder Tommy Robinson during a June 10 interview on his Fox News Radio program. Kilmeade told Robinson “we got your back” and said, “it's great what you're doing.”
Numerous U.S. outlets, including Fox News, have previously detailed the violent and fringe nature of the EDL, which has clashed with police during anti-Muslim protests.
Kilmeade's treatment of a group known for its anti-Muslim hatred did not sit well with those in the United Kingdom who have reported on EDL and Robinson.
“No great surprise but still disturbing that a Fox News extremist will cuddle up to a British hate extremist with a number of convictions for violence and who served time behind bars after he was caught trying to enter the U.S. with a false passport,” Kevin Maguire, associate editor of the Daily Mirror and a political columnist, wrote in an email.
Robinson (whose real name is Stephen Lennon) used a false identity document to enter the United States to attend an anti-Islam event with anti-Islam blogger Pamela Geller. Robinson pleaded guilty and was jailed in January and released in February. His offense was not his first brush with the law.
“So we may add hypocrisy to the charge sheet against Fox,” added Maguire, “when the channel demands America's borders be secure yet hails a violent man who tried to sneak into the US with somebody else's ID.”
Maguire described Robinson as “thuggish” and his supporters as “Nazi-saluting followers.”
Fiona Hamilton, a crime reporter for The Times of London, which is also headed by Rupert Murdoch, said of Kilmeade and others who offered supportive comments or favorable interviews to EDL, “I think they should take a closer look at what they stand for, definitely. This is a man who said he would ban the future building of mosques.”
She said the group is “viewed as extremists” in the U.K., adding, “I don't think you would find a majority of Britains who would agree with the English Defence League.”
John Higginson, political editor of Metro -- a free London newspaper owned by the Daily Mail parent company -- said Kilmeade's comments were a mistake.
“The BBC wouldn't say 'I've got your back.' If he is saying that, he is condoning these extremist views,” Higginson said. “The EDL, some of what they're preaching is to get rid of people just on religious grounds, just being a Muslim. To be saying that, it is bad.”
Tom Whitehead, security editor at The Telegraph of London, has covered the EDL and called them “a fairly extreme right-wing group” that engages in “threats and incidents of violence.” He said that if a British journalist echoed Kilmeade's views, “it wouldn't be seen very favorable to all. Personally, I certainly would not condone that at all.”