Yesterday, Fox & Friends' Brian Kilmeade taunted and mocked the sham sign-language interpreter at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service. Ironically, FoxNews.com reported that NBC’s Today show offended the hearing-impaired community when one of its producers did something similar.
Kilmeade said, “The sign language fake fessing up this morning. He said he had a schizophrenic episode, and this isn’t the first time.”
Kilmeade’s taunting was met with laughs off-screen. A smiling Steve Doocy said, “Thank you, Macaulay (Culkin).”
Media Matters reported:
Later in the show, America’s Newsroom co-host Martha MacCallum meaninglessly moved her hands around while attempting to sign “I love you.”
NBC’s Today show apologized for similarly mocking the incident on December 11, after a producer mimed fake sign language during the broadcast. Minutes after the gag aired, a representative for the show tweeted “We aired a joke in our 9:00 hour that was offensive. We apologize to our viewers.”
FoxNews.com reported on the Today show segment, noting that many in the Deaf community were offended.
We are not aware of any apology from Fox.
Video below via Media Matters.