Washington, DC-- Media Matters President Angelo Carusone released the following statement after James Murdoch circulated an email expressing concern about President Donald Trump’s defense of white supremacists and neo-Nazis -- and emphasized the need to “stand up to” this toxic hatred.

“Much of what Donald Trump said this week that James Murdoch is condemning actually came directly from Fox News. So, if James Murdoch really believes what he wrote in that email, then he needs to start with Fox News, the network that he runs. Until James stands up to Fox News preying on racial anxieties and serving as state-aligned propaganda for Trump, his sentiments ring hollow.

His $1 million donation to the Anti-Defamation League is laudable. But, it is hardly proportional to the damage that Fox News has done and will continue to do unless James Murdoch acts.”

Earlier this week, as shown in a Media Matters supercut, Donald Trump parroted several Fox News talking points during a press conference as he responded to questions about deadly white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, VA. These talking points included Trump smearing counter-protesters as the “alt-left,” suggesting that calls to take down Confederate statues is a slippery slope that could lead to demands to take down statues of other historical figures, and defending his failure to condemn white supremacists in his initial response to the violence.