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Fox News anchors Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson faced serious backlash on Tuesday after they mocked the first day of the U.S. Capitol riot committee hearing.
Officers Harry Dunn, Aquilino Gonell, Michael Fanone, and Daniel Hodges testified with their experience of racial abuse, physical attacks and fear of losing their lives while opposing violent Donald Trump advocates on Jan 6.
In a monologue, Ingraham called their testimonies “performance art” before handing out ‘acting awards’ to the officers who testified.
Officer Harry Dunn, shared the harrowing racial abuse he received from pro-Trump rioters. He recalls being called the N-word after attempting to reason with those who claimed Joe Biden had stolen the election. “I responded, ‘Well, I voted for Joe Biden. Does my vote not count? Am I nobody?’” he said. “That prompted a torrent of racial epithets.”
Aquilino Gonell shares his tearful testimony POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Ingraham mocked the officer with a ‘Best Political Performance’ award and strategically missed out on the clip of Dunn’s experience with racial abuse. “The award for blatant use of party politics when facts fail, the Angle award goes to Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn,” She said.
Officer Gonell described the violence amongst the protesters – who were using hockey sticks, flagpoles, and baseball bats as weapons. He said, “No matter if it is a pen, the way they were using these items, it was to hurt officers.”
Ingraham made a mockery of his statement by saying, “The winner is Aquilino Gonell, who thinks the pen is literally mightier than the sword”, along with a ‘Best Exaggerated Performance’ trophy.
On Tucker Carlson Tonight, the host also took a jab at officer Gonnell’s emotional speech where he shared how he was more afraid to work at the Capitol than his entire deployment to Iraq.
Carlson responded: “Actually, what happened on January 6, according to the video we do have, does not look a lot like Iraq. It’s not Fallujah.”
The TV host then showed a quieter segment of the Jan 6 riots.
He also addressed his ‘issues’ with Washington DC officer Michael Fanone’s mental health battles after he shared he’d “been left with psychological trauma and emotional anxiety.”
To which, Carlson sarcastically sniggered.
He suggested that Fanone should have experienced trauma last year when St. John’s Episcopal Church sustained fire damage.
Twitter was rightly appalled by the prime-time TV hosts’ comments.
One called for the show to be cancelled.
While others called their actions ‘despicable.’
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