Fox News doctor Keith Ablow: 'Michelle Obama needs to drop a few pounds'

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Ever the voice of reason and sense, Fox News has caused offence again.

The US television channel’s psychiatry contributor, Dr Keith Ablow, has stated that Michelle Obama isn’t in a position to campaign for healthier eating because “she needs to drop a few” herself.

The First Lady also runs a programme called First Move, which aims to curb childhood obesity.

“How well could she be eating?” he questioned on the Outnumbered show. “She needs to drop a few. Let’s be honest. We’re taking nutrition advice from who?”

Despite the incredulity of the show presenters, he continued in this seemingly demented line of thinking.

“I do dislike hypocrisy and I really do believe that people speaking about diet should be role models themselves, and I’m not sure if the first lady is that role model,” said Ablow.

The psychiatrist was given the opportunity to clarify his comments in a later interview with Politico, but stood his ground.

“I'm not taking food advice from an American who dislikes America, who in many photographs during her tenure as First Lady is obviously not fit, and who has a record of saying things that show that she's two-faced,” said Ablow. “This should be obvious, I don't know why it isn't.”

“It happens to be the case that the first lady during her tenure has not been consistently a picture of fitness,” he said. “That’s all, it is just a fact.”

Fox News attracted global attention recently for Sean Hannity’s recent attack on Palestinian guest Yousef Munayyer and asking him if he was “thick in the head” as he aggressively attempted to get him to agree that Hamas were a terrorist organisation.

The interview prompted Russell Brand to question his combative “bullying” style of questioning, to which Hannity responded by calling the comedian “dumb and ignorant”.