From “Hate Group” To “Nazis”: Fox News Ramps Up Their War On Black Lives Matter

Fox hosts and guests have likened the Black Lives Matter movement to “the Nazi Party,” and the “Ku Klux Klan,” after network personalities began a pseudo-campaign for the movement to be labeled a “hate group” earlier in the summer.

Fox Figures Label Black Lives Matter A “Terrorist Group,” Compare Them To “The Nazi Party” And The “Ku Klux Klan”

Fox Regular David Clarke Calls Black Lives Matter Activists “Garbage And “Sub-Human Creeps Advocating For “The Overthrow” Of Our Government. On the October 26 edition of Fox & Friends, Fox regular Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke claimed that Black Lives Matter movement “advocate[s] for the overthrow of our legally constituted government” and suggested that the police should “show up and arrest these sub-human creeps for creating a disturbance.” He continued by claiming that “there is no police brutality in the United States,” and calling Black Lives Matter a “garbage,” “subversive movement” that has “no valid arguments”:

DAVID CLARKE: What I would do is let them fend for themselves. Let the good law abiding people of New York clash with them for disrupting their lives, disrupting their businesses. Then the police can show up and arrest these sub-human creeps for creating a disturbance. That we can do.

[...]

BRIAN KILMEADE (HOST): Black Lives Matter, does it play an important role? First you, sheriff.

DAVID CLARKE: No, it's garbage. It's a subversive movement. Like I said, they advocate the overthrow of our legally constituted government. It is not a protest movement.

KILMEADE: Rod?

ROD WHEELER: I think yes it does matter. I think all lives matter. And I think what they're arguing about and protesting about is valid. It's just the way that they're going about doing it, I think is totally misdirected.

CLARKE: It isn't valid, knock it off. You're contributing to the problem here. It is not valid, there is no research.

WHEELER: But some of those people, sheriff --

CLARKE: Show me the data. Show me the research that demonstrates or supports that lie that law enforcement officers use an inordinate amount of force against black people. Black people use an inordinate force against themselves and each other in the American ghetto. It is not true about the American police officer. And I'm not going to let anybody come on TV and advocate that.

WHEELER: Well yeah sheriff, but you have to be, you have to be fair sheriff about all of this. Some of those people did have some valid arguments --

CLARKE: I don't have to be fair. What I have to be is factual.

WHEELER: And I'm not saying at all, and I would never suggest police officers just go out and do things wrong to people. But there are some valid arguments that we both on both sides need to --

CLARKE: There are no valid arguments. There is no police brutality in the United States. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 10/26/15]

Fox Guest: Black Lives Matter “Is A Terrorist Group.” On the October 23 edition of Fox & Friends, guest Mike Halstead said that Black Lives Matter “is a terrorist group in my opinion” and accused the movement of “call[ing] for the death of police officers and a race of people”:

STEVE DOOCY (HOST): [Y]ou said that Black Lives Matter is a terrorist group.

MIKE HALSTEAD: It is a terrorist group in my opinion. It's a terrorist group if you can march down the streets and call for the death of police officers and a race of people. You can make slogans and hold banners that says Black Lives Matter and then you can yell out pigs wrapped in bacon and frying in a pan, what do we want? Dead cops. When do we want them? Now. I mean, come on.

[...]

DOOCY: If you had a do-over and you could change one word or any of the words in that Facebook post, would you?

HALSTEAD: I would not have been so hard on the media. And I do apologize for that. I don't apologize for calling them a terrorist group, because they are a terrorist group. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 10/23/15]

Bill O'Reilly: “They Are An Extreme Group, The Nazi Party. The Black Lives Matter Is Also An Extreme Group.” On the October 22 edition of The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly likened Black Lives Matter to the Nazi Party, saying, “They are an extreme group, the Nazi Party. The Black Lives Matter is also an extreme group”:

BILL O'REILLY (HOST): Look, would you be comfortable with the Republican Party bringing in the Stormfront -- the Nazi people -- and saying we would like our candidates to talk to you guys. Would you be comfortable with that --

DAVID GOODFRIEND: No.

O'REILLY: Mr. Goodfriend?

GOODFRIEND: No. No, I wouldn't.

O'REILLY: OK. But they are an extreme group, the Nazi Party. The Black Lives Matter is also an extreme group as you have heard.

KEITH BOYKIN: The Black Lives Matter movement is not the Nazi Party. It's an offensive suggestion to make that comparison, Bill. I'm outraged that you would say that. [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 10/22/15]

Sean Hannity Compares The Democratic National Committee Allowing Black Lives Matter To Host A Presidential Town Hall, To "Let[ting] The Klan Host A Party." On the October 21 edition of Hannity, host Sean Hannity likened the Black Lives Matter Movement to the Ku Klux Klan and criticized the Democratic National Committee (DNC) for “reportedly allowing the quote, 'Black Lives Matter' group to host a presidential town hall,” before saying, “why don't you let the Klan host a party?”:

SEAN HANNITY: Democratic candidates pledging their support to the Black Lives Matter movement at the debate. But that doesn't appear to be enough for this radical movement. They're now demanding an opportunity for their very own presidential debate, and according to The Washington Post, the DNC reportedly allowing the quote, “Black Lives Matter” group to host a presidential town hall. Really? ... Your Democratic Party, not all lives matter, black lives matter. Your Democratic Party is going to allow the “pigs in a blanket, fry them like bacon” group to host a Democratic forum? What's wrong with your party? Don't you find that -- why don't you let the Klan host a party? [Fox News, Hannity, 10/21/15]

O'Reilly: Black Lives Matter Is “Like The Ku Klux Klan” If It Doesn't Repudiate Anti-Police Rhetoric. On the October 14 edition of The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly stated that if the “leadership of Black Lives Matter” does not “repudiate” “anti-police rhetoric,” they're “like the Ku Klux Klan”:

MONICA CROWLEY: If these candidates really do believe that black lives matter, I should have heard some condemnation of the anti-police rhetoric of the kind that you saw there coming from Black Lives Matter.

[...]

EBONI K. WILLIAMS: Well Bill, here's the thing, black lives matter, that is true. They don't matter more than other lives, and that's certainly not what they're saying. It's actually a response, guys. I think that a lot of black people in this country feel that actions, a pattern of actions, have shown a devaluing. So that's the response. What you've just showed, there, Bill, that is hate speech. Those people should have been arrested, it could incite violence.

BILL O'REILLY (HOST): But that's the Black Lives Matter movement.

WILLIAMS: That's an outlier segment, though Bill. To assign that -- no I've talked to leadership as well.

O'REILLY: And let me tell you why you're desperately wrong here, Eboni. Because they could have, the leadership of Black Lives Matter could have repudiated those things, and they did not, alright? So that's where you're wrong.

[...]

O'REILLY: If the movement doesn't repudiate, it's like the Ku Klux Klan, alright? You know, are all Klansman going to hang blacks? No. But they're all in the same soup bowl, alright? Because they don't divorce themselves from the group who did do those things. [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 10/14/15]

Tucker Carlson: “The Idea Behind All The Groups” Of Black Lives Matter “Is That You Divide People On The Basis Of Their Skin Color.” On the September 13 edition of Fox & Friends Sunday, host Tucker Carlson claimed that “the idea behind all the groups” of the Black Lives Matter movement “is that you divide people on the basis of their skin color and say, 'This one group of people's lives matter'”:

TUCKER CARLSON: So it's possible [Colbert] is so rich, famous, a celebrity guy, so totally out of touch he doesn't fully understand what that represents. But here is my concern, obviously Stephen Colbert is a talented character, but there is also a strain of self-righteousness in his comedy. I don't think it -- I mean, do you really want to get into this your first week on air, diving face first into the most divisive social movement in America?

ANNA KOOIMAN: It is very divisive, there is no doubt about that, but there are a lot of supporters for this group. The problem with this group is that there are so many different factions, right? I mean, I don't think Stephen Colbert, at least I hope, isn't supporting the same group that says, “Fry like bacon, pigs in a blanket,” and, “What do we want dead cops? What do we want right now?”

CLAYTON MORRIS: Or the Black Lives Matter group yesterday we reported on down there that attacked that one guy's truck because he had “Blue Lives Matter” on it, they ripped up the truck and spray painted it. Chances are Stephen Colbert does not support that side.

[CROSSTALK]

KOOIMAN: Or the group that makes Martin O'Malley get off stage, or Bernie Sanders get booed off stage. Is it that group or --

CARLSON: It's the idea --it's all of them.

KOOIMAN: -- or is it the group that has some viable grievances that they feel like they need to have addressed?

CARLSON: It's the idea behind all the groups, and that is that you divide people on the basis of their skin color and say, “This one group of people's lives matter.” Everybody's life matters. Period. [Fox News, Fox & Friends Sunday, 9/13/15]

Fox News Personalities Have Repeatedly Advocated For Labeling The Black Lives Matter Movement As A “Hate Group”

Bill O'Reilly: Black Lives Matter Is A “Hate Group” That Wants Police Officers Dead. On the August 31 edition of The O'Reilly Factor, Bill O'Reilly alleged that Black Lives Matter is a “hate group” and compared the movement to the Ku Klux Klan:

BILL O'REILLY: Is Black Lives Matter a hate group?

JUAN WILLIAMS: No. I mean, you mean like a neo-Nazis, or Aryan Nation, or --

O'REILLY: The Klan --

WILLIAMS: Klan or even terrorist groups like Boko Haram.

O'REILLY: I wouldn't say they're terrorists. I think they're a hate groups. They hate police officers.

WILLIAMS: Well, they have strong feelings about --

O'REILLY: No, they hate them. [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 8/31/15]

Elisabeth Hasselbeck: “Why Has The Black Lives Matter Movement Not Been Classified Yet As A Hate Group?” On the August 31 edition of Fox & Friends, co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck wondered when Black Lives Matter would be labeled as a hate group:

ELISABETH HASSELBECK: Why has the Black Lives movement -- Black Lives Matter movement -- not been classified yet as a hate group? I mean, how much more has to go in this direction before someone actually labels it as such? [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 8/31/15]

Fox & Friends Names Black Lives Matter The "'Murder' Movement." On the same edition of Fox & Friends, the network displayed on-screen text calling Black Lives Matter the "'murder' movement":

Neil Cavuto: “Do You Think The Black Lives Matter Groups Are Hate Groups?” On the September 2 edition of Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto, host Cavuto asked a Harris County, Texas Sheriff Ron Hickman, “Do you think the Black Lives Matter groups are hate groups?” [Fox News, Your World with Neil Cavuto, 9/2/15]