MARTHA MACCALLUM (HOST): A couple of things bother me about it. One is when I heard it, it didn’t occur to me that way at all. I thought “monkey it up,” it doesn’t sound to me like a racist thing to say.

[…]

What kind of world are we living in where this is how quickly we jump the gun? And then Gillum says, “We’re so divided, how sad that we’re divided but it’s not a dog whistle, it’s a bull horn.” So instead of saying he doesn’t want to be divided, he’s using this politically right out of the gate.

[…]

I would love it if someone would come out of this situation and say “You know what, I’m not going to go there, I’m sure that’s not what the man meant, let’s talk about the issues.”

Previously:

Fox anchor ignores GOP's Florida gubernatorial candidate using racist code words about Black Democratic nominee

Fox anchor says the network does not condone Ron DeSantis' racist remarks about Andrew Gillum, does not say what the comments were

After Rep. Ron DeSantis said Andrew Gillum would “monkey” up Florida, conservative media trotted out their playbook to spin away racist comments