A Fox News commentator faced backlash for his appalling statements regarding homeless individuals, suggesting that those with mental health issues should be put down.
In the context of the unfortunate death of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska last month, Brian Kilmeade proposed a controversial solution for preventing similar incidents by advocating for the euthanization of homeless people with mental health challenges.
After taking a late-night Blue Line train at Scaleybark Station near Downtown Charlotte, 22-year-old Iryna occupied an empty seat in front of Decarlos Brown Jr., who has since been apprehended and charged with first-degree murder for the unprovoked assault.
The 34-year-old suspect, reportedly homeless and struggling with mental health issues, claimed that external forces controlling his body led him to allegedly stab Iryna.
Kilmeade’s inflammatory comment surfaced during a Fox & Friends segment broadcast on Wednesday morning (September 10).
In conversation with co-hosts Lawrence Jones and Ainsley Earhardt, Kilmeade provocatively suggested: “[Give them] an involuntary lethal injection – or something. Just kill them.”
Initially, his statement was met with silence but gained attention when a clip of the interaction circulated on social media over the weekend.
Jones had previously remarked on the challenges of addressing homelessness and mental health through non-coercive approaches.
“A lot of them do not want to take the programmes. A lot of them do not want to get the help that is necessary,” he noted.
“You cannot give them a choice. Either you take the resources that we are gonna give you, or you decide that you are going to be locked up in jail. That is the way it has to be now.”
The video has since amassed over 20 million views, sparking widespread outrage online.
Virginia Representative Don Beyer was among those criticizing Kilmeade, stating on Twitter: “America’s homeless population includes over a million children and tens of thousands of veterans, many of whom served in Iraq or Afghanistan.
“Nobody deserves to be murdered by the government for mental illness or poverty. These Fox hosts are calling for mass murder – it is sick.”
Recently, Kilmeade addressed the issue with a public apology during a broadcast.
“We were discussing the murder of Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte and how to stop these kinds of attacks by homeless, mentally ill assailants, including institutionalizing or jailing such people so they cannot attack again,” he explained. “Now during that discussion, I wrongly said they should get lethal injections.”
“I apologize for that extremely callous remark. I am obviously aware that not all mentally ill, homeless people act as the perpetrator did in North Carolina, and that so many homeless people deserve our empathy and compassion.”
His apology was also criticized, with CNN data analyst Jonathan Reiner, a professor of Medicine and Surgery Interventional Cardiologist, expressing disapproval on Twitter.
“Suggesting that homeless or mentally ill people should be euthanized is not ‘callous’. It’s something much worse,” he stated.