Brian Kilmeade interrupted his fellow co-host, Steve Doocy, Tuesday morning to correct him about media coverage of the illegal immigrant murder story in Texas.
It was a small but instructive window into the changing landscape of the cable news landscape in which a conservative opinion host (Kilmeade) actually went to bat for a rival network that has long been derided by conservatives for its left-leaning bias. CNN has been under new leadership for roughly a year and hasn’t received praise on Fox News opinion shows in what feels like forever.
At issue is a tragic mass shooting by alleged assailant Francisco Oropesa, accused of shooting five of his neighbors, including a nine-year-old boy, in Cleveland, Texas. Governor Gregg Abbot has offered a $50,000 reward in the manhunt for the fugitive. In a statement, Abbott identified the victims as “illegal immigrants” while noting the shooter was “in the country illegally.”
CNN reported Monday that the alleged shooter had been deported four times after entering the U.S. illegally. At least one of the victims was a legal resident.
Fox News has long covered the border crisis, and this story is no exception, leading many opinion programs since the news broke. It was at the end of one particular Fox & Friends segment in which Doocy called out the media coverage, to which Kilmeade corrected the record:
Doocy: A Border patrol would have said, Hey, wait a minute, you’re being deported. We’re going to turn you around. He was one of the gateways. And here’s the thing. Law enforcement says we don’t have any clues. We’ve got no idea where he is. Why? Because he clearly went back to his home country of Mexico. So when Mr. Mayorkas says things like the border is secure, if the border is secure, that guy who murdered five people would not be able to go lickety split back to Mexico and simply disappear. We may never find this guy after he killed those five people. It is just terrible. And how many people are actually talking about on other news outlets that the man is in the country was in the country illegally? And told you about guns instead.
Kilmeade: But I did see this morning on the overnight on CNN, they did lead with illegal immigrant who they are looking for. So that’s relatively encouraging.
Doocy: Okay. There are two out of 20.
Doocy and Kilmeade are long-time colleagues and share something of a fraternal relationship that allows the occasional back and forth, which makes for compelling morning television and gets the show they co-host each morning such high ratings.
Watch above via Fox News.
Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com
For more latest TV News Click Here