Fox News, as you might expect, did not lend the most enlightened viewpoint to the Charlie Hebdo coverage. On Saturday, a segment on Justice with Judge Jeanine got very wrong very fast, as Steve Emerson—executive director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism—had the following to say about Muslims in England:
“In Britain, it’s not just no-go zones, there are actual cities like Birmingham that are totally Muslim where non-Muslims just simply don’t go in.”
Twitter did not care for this, and went all-in with a creative #foxnewsfacts hashtag:
Terrifying photo of how a typical Muslim from Birmingham guards the city gates against infidels. #foxnewsfacts pic.twitter.com/w1TJt93VEi
— Pavilion Opinions (@pavilionopinion) January 11, 2015
Armed Muslim women seize control of Birmingham streets... #foxnewsfacts pic.twitter.com/0gcLcHAYs6
— David Broadfield (@David_Link2) January 12, 2015
A Muslim pissed of Queen during interview by telling her to do good deeds at this age. #FoxNewsFacts pic.twitter.com/1ri4gkV7y3
— Ali Qasim (@aliqasim) January 12, 2015
All post boxes in #Birmingham have been forced to wear red burqas. #foxnewsfacts pic.twitter.com/gUaPMs23ZR
— Matthew Ward (@HistoryNeedsYou) January 12, 2015Emerson quickly realized his mistake, issuing the following apology to The Telegraph:
“You may quote me on this as I will be posting this and taking out an ad in a Birmingham paper. I have clearly made a terrible error for which I am deeply sorry. My comments about Birmingham were totally in error. And I am issuing an apology and correction on my website immediately for having made this comment about the beautiful city of Birmingham. I do not intend to justify or mitigate my mistake by stating that I had relied on other sources because I should have been much more careful. There was no excuse for making this mistake and I owe an apology to every resident of Birmingham. I am not going to make any excuses. I made an inexcusable error. And I am obligated to openly acknowledge that mistake.
Steve
PS. I intend to make a donation to a Birmingham charity.”
Fox News: always elevating the discourse around sensitive topics.
[via The Wrap]
