At this point, nobody should be surprised at the racist profiteering of Fox News, but somehow this recent stunt seems incredulous. Back in July, a Fox News host received so much backlash for antisemitic remarks that even other conservative outlets criticized him for it.
Greg Gutfeld is yet another Republican bigot who runs his own painfully unfunny satirical talk show called Gutfeld! on Fox News Channel. On July 24, 2023, he participated in a debate on The Five, a talk show also run by Fox News. According to The New York Times, the topic was the new Ron DeSantis-approved African American history curriculum in Florida schools, which teaches that slavery gave those who were enslaved beneficial skills. We’ve talked before about the current totalitarian state of Florida education, as mandated by its fascist governor.
Co-host Jessica Tarlov said that this aspect of the curriculum was tantamount to saying that the Jews benefited from the holocaust. Gutfeld proceeded to make a complete clown of himself by arguing that Jewish people did learn useful skills in the Holocaust. He cited a book called Man’s Search for Meaning by Vik Frankl to back up his erroneous claim. “Vik Frankl talks about how you had to survive in a concentration camp by having skills. You had to be useful. Utility. Utility kept you alive,” Gutfeld told the host. Yikes!
The day after, numerous publications rightfully called out Gutfeld for his claims. Even the White House issued a statement, calling Gutfeld’s claims “a horrid, dangerous, extreme lie that insults the memory of the millions of Americans who suffered from the evil of enslavement.”
Make no mistake: Gutfeld wildly misinterpreted Man’s Search for Meaning. TikTok user @jacob.arthur explained the real meaning of the book and how Gutfeld gutlessly weaponized false concepts not present in the reading at all.
Of course, it’s not the first time spineless Gutfeld has spewed his reactionary sludge. As reported by Yahoo!, Gutfeld once spent a whole talk show segment demonizing transgender people. And CNN reports that, not too long ago, Gutfeld made the outrageously misogynist claim that crime would stop if women didn’t exist.
As always, Gutfeld, like many reactionaries, will probably see no long-term repercussions for this. He’ll most likely be allowed to continue saying whatever he wants on his show without censure or meaningful rebuke.
And that is, perhaps, the scariest part about Fox News: it is a rich and powerful media corporation that doesn’t have to answer to anyone. At the very least, Gutfeld was clowned on by the entire world for a glorious few days.
(featured image: Steven Ferdman, Getty Images)
