Fox News on Sunday said the network “strongly” condemns Jeanine Pirro’s stunningly Islamophobic attack on Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.).
The Fox News host said on Saturday that Omar wears a hijab because the Koran “tells women to cover so they won’t get molested.” She also said the lawmaker’s religious dress may be “antithetical to the Constitution.”
The First Amendment guarantees religious freedom and free speech rights.
Fox offered no details about any possible consequences for Pirro.
There was no immediate response from Omar.
The hijab attack was part of Pirro’s questioning of whether Omar’s criticism of Israel shows “her adherence to Sharia law”:
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim civil rights organization in the U.S., demanded that Fox News fire Pirro.
“Such an open and un-American expression of religious bigotry should be rejected by any media outlet seeking even a modicum of credibility,” CAIR national executive director Nihad Awad said in a statement provided to HuffPost. “Jeanine Pirro should be fired, and Fox News should apologize to its viewing audience.”
Pakistani American Hufsa Kamal, a producer on the “Special Report with Bret Baier,” reminded Pirro that she actually works with Muslims at Fox News:
Pirro’s commentary was also roundly criticized on Twitter: