Fox News
- A Fox News host on Thursday said anti-racism protesters should be "barred" from calling 911.
- Kilmeade reacted to a string of local protest headlines read off by co-host Ainsley Earhardt.
- "You should be barred from – anyone who says that, you are no longer allowed to use 911," he said.
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"Fox & Friends" co-host Brian Kilmeade launched into a tirade just 10 minutes into Thursday morning's show, arguing that anti-racism protesters "should be barred" from calling 911 if they speak out against the police.
Kilmeade, who has co-hosted the show since 1998, was reacting to fellow anchor Ainsley Earhardt listing off a series of headlines about a handful of protests in the aftermath of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin's conviction for the murder of George Floyd.
-Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) April 22, 2021
"Ohio State University, now, the students are gathering in the students union and they're demanding that the school cut ties with Columbus police. In Portland, someone punched an officer in the face," Earhardt said, offering little context and not citing any sources of the reports.
"They smashed windows of a Starbucks," she continued. "They spray painted anti-police messages on walls there. Minnesota, protesters were yelling at police 'Get the blank out,' and in New York at that local restaurant, 'We don't want you here. We don't want you here.'"
Kilmeade quickly jumped in.
"Good, and you know what? You should be barred from - anyone who says that, you are no longer allowed to use 911," he said, adding: "Let's just hope, in your life, you never need a police officer."
While the initial reaction to the Chauvin verdict on Tuesday was mostly positive from daytime Fox News hosts and guests, several others have expressed frustration at how the ruling played out among the public and in the mainstream media.
Most notably, the network's top-rated primetime host Tucker Carlson cast doubt on the verdict by implying the jury was intimidated into convicting Chauvin, while Greg Gutfeld - co-host of "The Five" and host of the eponymously named "Gutfeld!" - celebrated the jury's decision "even if he might not be guilty of all charges" because "my house was looted."