Fox and Friends host Brian Kilmeade has issued an apology for comments he made last Wednesday about the mentally ill homeless when discussing the death of Iryna Zarutska.
During a Wednesday broadcast of Fox and Friends, Kilmeade was having a discussion with co-hosts Lawrence Jones and Ainsley Earhardt about Zarutska, the 23-year-old Ukrainian woman was stabbed and killed on a train in North Carolina in August. The assailant reportedly had former convictions and a record of mental illness.
During their conversation, Jones addressed public money being spent to attempt to help mentally ill homeless people and suggested that those who didn’t accept the offered services should be jailed. Kilmeade then added, “Or involuntary lethal injection, or something. Just kill ‘em.”
Kilmeade’s comments sparked controversy, leaving the host to speak out about them during Sunday’s broadcast. In his apology, Kilmeade referred to his comments as “callous.”
“In the morning, we were discussing the murder of Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, North Carolina 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 said. “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.”
The Justice Department has charged Decarlos Brown Jr., the man accused of fatally stabbing the Ukrainian refugee on a North Carolina commuter train last month. As reported by the Associated Press, the case has sparked a debate over whether cities such as Charlotte are adequately addressing violent crime, mental illness and transit safety.
“Iryna Zarutska was a young woman living the American dream — her horrific murder is a direct result of failed soft-on-crime policies that put criminals before innocent people,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement of the murder. “We will seek the maximum penalty for this unforgivable act of violence — he will never again see the light of day as a free man.”