A Fox News Channel host apologized on air to viewers after a segment in which a pro-Trump white guest told a Democratic Party strategist who is black that he was ‘out of his cotton-picking mind.’
Ed Henry, the host of Fox and Friends, invited two guests on Sunday to debate President Donald Trump’s policies toward migrants and the fallout from the separation of families who cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
Henry invited David Bossie, a former Trump deputy campaign manager, and Joel Payne, a frequent guest who is also a Democratic strategist.
The discussion grew tense over accusations that those criticizing Trump by comparing him to Adolf Hitler and his supporters to Nazis crossed the line.
A Fox News Channel host, Ed Henry (center), apologized on air to viewers after a segment in which a pro-Trump white guest, David Bossie (left), told a Democratic Party strategist, Joel Payne (right), who is black, that he was ‘out of his cotton-picking mind’
‘You guys, you, the Democratic party are so angry and hate filled towards the border patrol agents, towards police officers, towards I.C.E. Agents,’ Bossie said.
‘You know what? It is – we’re done with this,’ he continued.
‘The American people recognize what the Democrat party has become.
‘They’ve become Robert de Niro and Peter Fonda, and they’ve become nothing more than angry and hate filled.
‘They hate this president more than they love this country, and it’s dangerous.’
De Niro has been an outspoken critic of Trump. During the recent Tony Awards ceremony, he received a standing ovation when he uttered the words ‘F*** Trump’.
Bossie made the remark in response to Payne’s suggestion that General Michael Hayden (above), the former head of the National Security Agency, was not a liberal
Hayden, a frequent critic of President Donald Trump, raised eyebrows last week when he tweeted a photo of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in response to the news about family separations at the U.S.-Mexico border
The slur was bleeped out by CBS, the network which aired the ceremony.
Fonda, the actor and brother of Jane Fonda, apologized earlier this week for saying that Trump’s 12-year-old son, Barron Trump, should be ripped from ‘his mother’s arms and put in a cage with pedophiles.’
Payne shot back, accusing Trump and his supporters of stoking racial tensions.
‘You don’t have to be a golden retriever to hear all the dog whistles coming out of the White House these days and from my friend David here,’ Payne said.
Bossie then raised a controversial tweet by General Michael Hayden, the former head of the National Security Agency.
Last week, as the first images of children separated from their migrant parents were broadcast on the news, Hayden tweeted: ‘Other governments have separated mothers and children.’
The accompanying picture showed the entrance to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Poland, where it is believed over 1 million people, mainly Jews, were exterminated by the Nazis.
Bossie criticized Hayden’s tweet, which prompted Payne to reply that Hayden was not a liberal.
Over 2,000 migrant children were separated from their parents by federal agents after they crossed the border from Mexico, sparking national outrage. U.S. Border Patrol agents are seen above checking passports at the Paso Del Norte Port of Entry in El Paso, Mexico this week
‘You’re out of your cotton-picking mind,’ Bossie told Payne.
Payne was furious.
‘Cotton-picking mind?’ he said.
‘Brother, let me tell you something, I got some relatives who picked cotton and I’m not going to sit back and let you attack me on TV like that.’
‘Attack you how? You’re out of your mind,’ Bossie said.
‘This is ridiculous, this is what’s gone on in America.
‘This is what we’re about.’
After the segment, Henry returned to the air and distanced himself from Bossie’s comments.
‘Bossie used a phrase that clearly offended Joel Payne and offended many others,’ the Fox and Friends host said.
‘But I want to make sure that Fox News and this show, myself, we don’t agree with that particular phrase.
‘It was obviously offensive and these debates get fiery, that’s unfortunate.
‘We like to have honest and spirited debates, but not phrases like that, obviously.’
Bossie also apologized later on Sunday.
‘During a heated segment on Fox & Friends today, I should have chosen my words more carefully and never used the offensive phrase that I did,’ Bossie tweeted.
‘I apologize to Joel Payne, Fox News and its viewers.’
The network released a statement saying: ‘David Bossie’s comments today were deeply offensive and wholly inappropriate. His remarks do not reflect the sentiments of FOX News and we do not in any way condone them.’