Fox News host Brian Kilmeade is facing intensifying criticism after apologizing Sunday for suggesting last week that people living with homelessness and mental illness should be executed. His viral comments were immediately met with backlash online including from California Govenor Gavin Newsom who slapped him with an insult that made MAGA’s head spin.
Kilmeade’s apology itself has drawn backlash, with critics calling it hollow and insufficient, and the episode has fueled a broader fight in Washington over toxic rhetoric and accountability in media.
The controversy began Wednesday on Fox & Friends when Kilmeade, during a discussion of the fatal stabbing of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, North Carolina, responded to a colleague’s comments about jail or treatment for unhoused people by saying: “Or involuntary lethal injection or something. Just kill them.” He repeated: “Just kill ’em.”
The remarks immediately sparked outrage. Newsom weighed in directly with an unexpected spin for the party that pushes a Christian leaning idealogy. Newsom clapbacked with a scripture verse on X: “Proverbs 21:13: Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.”
Social media praised the governor for turning the mirror to conservatives who claim to follow the bible’s teachings. “Please keep using the Bible against them. It’s makes the hypocrisy SO much clearer,” one user said on X. While another exclaimed, “Preach, Newsom!”
Though not everyone was convinced, “Sorry Gavin, they only pretend to follow the bible, so saying this wont help at all.”
MAGA on the other hand were in full meltdown mode worried more about whether Newsom was a Christian vs condemning Kilmeade.
“The bible, your quoting the bible? You sir should stay away from the bible. Lightening may come your way,” said a shocked user.
Another added, “Tha anti Christian quoting scripture. I’ve seen it all now.”
Users took notice, “Not a single comment from MAGA on this thread condemning the statement. A whole lot of temper tantrums though. Hmm..”
Newsom’s rebuke fit into a broader campaign he has waged in recent weeks against Trump and his allies, positioning himself as one of the most vocal Democratic critics of the right.
On Sunday, appearing on Fox & Friends Weekend, Kilmeade acknowledged the backlash and issued an apology. “I wrongly said they should get lethal injections,” he said. “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.”
The apology landed flat and calls for Kilmeade’s termination spread like wildfire over the weekend.
One critic on X wrote: “That’s it? That’s his “apology”? Zero empathy, zero acknowledgement of how inhumane his comments were. He still doesn’t get it. He truly has to go.”
“This is the least empathetic apology I have ever heard. Brian Kilmeade should resign or Fox Entertainment should fire him. Dehumanizing homeless people and wishing death is unacceptable.”
Another observed Kilmeade appeared uncomfortable making the apology, “He looks darn mad that he’s forced to do this. I see zero humility. TBH, I never liked him anyway,” while others said simply: “Apology rejected.”
Some defended Kilmeade, insisting his comments were taken out of context. “The conversation was clearly about the murderously insane who refuse treatment, NOT the homeless,” one user argued. But such defenses were drowned out by widespread condemnation.
The episode has highlighted contrasting standards across media. Kilmeade has so far kept his job at Fox, unlike MSNBC analyst Matthew Dowd, who was fired last week after linking far-right rhetoric to the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah.
Dowd had said on air: “Hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions.”
His termination spurred accusations of double standards.
Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, put it bluntly: “Kilmeade is advocating for extrajudicial killings on FOX, yet Matthew Dowd was fired by MSNBC [for] pointing out Charlie Kirk’s dangerous rhetoric. This moral asymmetry in the media and online is destroying democracy.”
The uproar over Kilmeade’s remarks is unfolding against a volatile backdrop. Kirk’s killing has fueled heated rhetoric across the political spectrum, with some conservatives invoking “civil war” and demanding retribution, while critics on the left warn that such discourse risks normalizing violence.
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers remain divided over how to respond. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., told Fox News Digital, “This is on all of us, right? I mean, you know, everyone’s been ramping up the rhetoric, right? If the left is going to blame the right, and the right is going to blame the left, and we’re going to continue to say ‘It’s your fault,’ and we’re not collectively going to try to bring it down together, then this cycle is just going to continue to go on.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., echoed the call for restraint, “I’m trying to turn the temperature down around here. I always do that. I’ve been very consistent.” Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., added: “It should be in both parties to make sure that you don’t incite this kind of an activity.”
But others in Congress escalated the rhetoric further. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., posted on X: “The left and their policies are leading America into a civil war. They want it. The gloves are off.” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., wrote: “EVERY DAMN ONE OF YOU WHO CALLED US FASCISTS DID THIS. YOU ARE THE HATE you claim to fight. Your words caused this. Your hate caused this.”
Democrats have warned that this surge in inflammatory language risks normalizing violence. Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., reflected on the turmoil of the 1960s: “The message was love and not violence. So, you know, returning to a message like that could be good, but it didn’t change the outcome of the assassinations during that era. So, I don’t know that there’s an easy answer.”
Advocates meanwhile emphasize that research shows people experiencing homelessness are more often victims of violence than perpetrators, and that mental illness alone does not predict violent behavior.
