Updated on: September 15, 2025 / 6:27 AM EDT
/ CBS/AP
Fox News Channel host Brian Kilmeade apologized on Sunday for advocating for the execution of mentally ill homeless people in a discussion on the network last week, saying his remark was “extremely callous.”
Kilmeade’s initial comment came on a “Fox & Friends” episode Wednesday and began getting widespread circulation online over the weekend. Kilmeade, a host of the morning show, was talking with co-hosts Lawrence Jones and Ainsley Earhardt about the Aug. 22 stabbing murder of Iryna Zarutska on a light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina.
A homeless and mentally ill man, Decarlos Brown Jr., was arrested for murder, and the case received extensive attention on Fox following the release of a security video of the stabbing. Last week, the Justice Department announced that Brown is charged with one count of committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system.
Jones was talking on “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday about public money spent on trying to help homeless people and suggested that those who didn’t accept services offered to them should be jailed.
“Or involuntary lethal injection, or something,” Kilmeade said. “Just kill ’em.”
Earhardt interjected, “Why did it have to get to this point?” Kilmeade replied, “I will say this, we’re not voting for the right people.”
During an appearance on the “Fox & Friends” weekend show Sunday, Kilmeade said that “I wrongly said they should get lethal injection. I apologize for that extremely callous remark. I am obviously aware that not all mentally ill, homeless people act as the perpetrator did in North Carolina and that so many homeless people deserve our empathy and compassion.”
Fox News management did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
An advocate for homeless people said Sunday that Kilmeade’s remark had been “completely devoid of all humanity.” Christine Quinn, president and CEO of Win, a provider of shelter and services for homeless children in New York City, invited Kilmeade to volunteer in one of the organization’s shelters.
Kilmeade’s initial remark came hours before the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah. An MSNBC analyst, Matthew Dowd, was fired for saying on the air that afternoon that hateful rhetoric can lead to hateful actions.
Brown, the suspect in the Charlotte murder, has a long criminal history, including serving five years in prison for robbery with a dangerous weapon, and his family said he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Brown’s mother told a local television station she recently sought an involuntary psychiatric commitment after he became violent at home.
Zarutska’s relatives have said the 23-year-old came to the U.S. with to escape Russia’s war in Ukraine. Justice Department officials said Zarutska was living in a bomb shelter in Ukraine before moving.
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