- An alleged arson occurred outside of Fox News headquarters early Wednesday morning.
- The network's "all-American Christmas tree on Fox Square" caught fire and a suspect was apprehended.
- "Fox & Friends" morning hosts took the incident as a sign of lawlessness taking hold nationwide.
Usually upbeat and cheerful when kicking off their three-hour weekday morning show, the hosts of "Fox & Friends" began on Wednesday in a visibly dour and, at times, scornful mood.
Just a few hours before hosts Ainsley Earhardt, Brian Kilmeade and Steve Doocy took to the air, the giant Christmas tree outside of the network's headquarters along Manhattan's 6th Avenue was set ablaze by an unnamed suspect.
"Normally, during the Christmas season, we start the program by showing an outside shot of our all-American Christmas tree on Fox Square, but last night, shortly after midnight, somebody climbed up in the tree and lit it on fire," Doocy said. "It's beginning to look a lot like arson."
The suspect was taken into police custody, Doocy added.
The segment then began to take the form of a Fox News staple, the so-called war on Christmas, a seasonal specialty by the conservative network as reliable as fall's pumpkin spice lattes.
"I mean, it's just part of the rampance [sic.] that no city is safe, no person is safe, from the subway on down," Kilmeade said, latter adding that the "psycho" who ignited the blaze was "tackled to the ground" by security "within two seconds."
Earhardt lamented that tourists will see security tape around the tree instead of its lights, music, and other seasonal atmospheric elements.
She described New York City as "a city we used to love" as the panel took the incident to make a broader comment about crime in President Joe Biden's America — a complicated subject that involves a record spike in murders from 2020 but still fewer nationwide than in the early 1990s, as well as a continuation of the overall crime rate lowering.
"This is beyond tragic," Kilmeade added. "This is part of a bigger problem. It's the crime surge in this country."
In response to a request for comment, a Fox News spokesperson referred Insider to an internal memo from Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott.
Scott writes in the memo that there were "no injuries and thankfully all employees working inside the building remained safe throughout the duration of the fire."
"We will not let this deliberate and brazen act of cowardice deter us," Scott continues later on in the memo. "We are in the process of rebuilding and installing a new tree as a message that there can be peace, light and joy even during a dark moment like this."
Scott added that there are plans in the works for a "lighting ceremony" to unveil the new tree.