Fox Compares Costas' Remarks To Hank Williams Jr.'s Nazi Smear, Don Imus' Insult

Fox News host Megyn Kelly and frequent Fox guest Lars Larson attempted to compare Bob Costas' discussion of gun control to Hank Williams Jr. associating Obama with Hitler and Don Imus calling a women's basketball team “nappy-headed hos.” 

Fox has joined the right-wing media in criticizing NBC's Costas for questioning America's gun culture following the murder-suicide committed by Kansas City Chiefs football player Jovan Belcher. On the December 3 edition of Fox's America's Newroom, Larson and host Megyn Kelly attempted to make a series of bizarre comparisons between Costas' comments and remarks by former MSNBC host Don Imus and former ESPN personality Hank Williams Jr. that led to their termination with their respective broadcasting outlets. Following comments by Fox News contributor Kristen Powers suggesting that Costas shouldn't be fired for expressing an opinion, as Larson urged, Larson and Kelly responded:

LARSON: When you say you shouldn't be fired for casting an opinion, ask Don Imus about that. He was fired for saying something incredibly stupid and incredibly degrading about young --

KELLY: Well, Hank Williams. Remember Hank Williams made those comments  --

LARSON: Or Hank Williams.

KELLY: -- and he got fired from the NFL.

Larson was referring to Imus in 2007 calling the Rutgers women's basketball team “nappy-headed hos,” and Kelly's reference was to Williams comparing President Obama to Hitler just last year during an appearance on Fox & Friends.

In response to Larson and Kelly, Powers threw her hands to her head in disbelief: “I'm sorry, are we really comparing wanting gun laws to saying racist things?” 

After the commercial break, Kelly clarified that Williams was fired by ESPN, not the NFL, for his remarks. Then she said, “But it's not about Hank Williams, it's about Bob Costas” and the points he was trying to make. Powers again stated that Kelly and Larson “lost” her with the comparison of Costas stating his opinion on gun culture to Imus and Williams “saying racist things.”

Powers also noted statistics showing that people are more likely to die in a dispute if a gun is involved, to which Larson responded, “Kirsten is wrong.” In fact, data show that guns greatly increase the probability that women who are victims of domestic violence will be killed by their abuser.

Larson ended the segment with a blunt thought regarding Belcher's girlfriend: “Maybe if she'd owned a firearm, she'd still be alive today.”