In a hilarious and pointed segment on the Fox News Channel’s The Five on Monday, co-anchor Greg Gutfeld unloaded on CNN’s Brian Stelter for taking swipes at Fox News for reporting on the fact that violent and other forms of crime were on the rise throughout President Biden’s America. Even Democratic co-host and former Congressman Harold Ford (D-TN) took Stelter and his henchman Oliver Darcy to task.
After playing a clip from CNN’s so-called “Reliable Sources” where Stelter and Darcy whined about Fox’s reporting, Gutfeld declared: “It's got to be gross to work at CNN where all you do is push these elaborate hoaxes while denying actual human suffering.”
Gutfeld recalled his jokes about Stelter being “fat,” “bald,” and “homely” and how CNN host Don Lemon and disgraced former host Chris Cuomo would repeatedly mock the rise in violent crime on-air (included below):
People ask me why do I constantly point out how fat Brian Stelter is, how fat and bald and homely he is. And I always tell you that no insult is worse than their ideas, as long as they mocked the black-on-black crime and death in the streets, which there is tape of Don Lemon and Chris Cuomo laughing about it. As long as they believe that I got a pass on it, then everything is on the table. You can make fun of them about anything. Right?
So, they chose this hill to die on while cops and civilians are literally dying.
In an important rhetorical question, Gutfeld wondered: “how security can work at CNN and Have to be around these people.” “I mean these are actual crime deniers. They helped build the anti-cop narrative for I don’t know how many years,” he added.
“Their ratings are dying, their narrative is antithetical to what Americans believe,” he pointed out, further noting that CNN was “not a network interested in the American view or any more” but rather “a curated propaganda machine.”
Co-anchor Dana Perino then expertly pushed back on Stelter’s false assertion that crime was a topic being cooked up by Fox News and the right by recounting how other networks were asking the White House about it. She then called out how CNN’s own polls were showing crime a major concern for Americans and that CNN was out of touch (Click “expand”):
The one thing that I feel the White House does that the President is not doing, you need to match the moment and the mood of the country. And if you are not, then you are going to get polls that show only a third of the country think that you care about the issues their focused on. And that’s what those polls were showing last week.
The other thing is that if you look at CNN’s own polling on immigration and crime and inflation – if the execs aren’t sharing CNN’s own polling with CNN’s media reporting team, they maybe should break down that wall because their own polling is showing that it's a problem.
Co-anchor Jesse Watters, who was leading the discussion, looked to Ford and noted that these CNNers lived in New York City and had to have seen the local reports of violent crime (in fact, Stelter is married to Jamie Stelter, anchor for NY1).
“Denial does not wear well,” Ford declared before asking about what neighborhoods Stelter and Darcy lived in. “But if you live in a neighborhood which is most neighborhoods, fortunately, in New York City today, you’re watching where you are going.”
Ford explained that he avoids the subway now because of all the fights, stabbing, and murders (pushed onto the tracks). He then spoke directly at Stelter, noting he was just trying “to get back at” Fox News, and dressed him down as “not serving the people who watch your network and the people who are in danger every day and every night in our city.”
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
Fox News Channel’s The Five
January 24, 2022
5:18:22 p.m. Eastern(…)
JESSE WATTERS: What do you think the strategy was behind that segment, Greg?
GREG GUTFELD: I don't know. It's got to be gross to work at CNN where all you do is push these elaborate hoaxes while denying actual human suffering. Right?
They spent years pushing this labyrinth of a hoax trying to scare people that the republic is in danger, but yet they literally laugh about crime. People ask me why do I constantly point out how fat Brian Stelter is, how fat and bald and homely he is. And I always tell you that no insult is worse than their ideas, as long as they mocked the black-on-black crime and death in the streets, which there is tape of Don Lemon and Chris Cuomo laughing about it. As long as they believe that I got a pass on it, then everything is on the table. You can make fun of them about anything. Right?
So, they chose this hill to die on while cops and civilians are literally dying.
How can – I wonder, how security can work at CNN and Have to be around these people. I mean these are actual crime deniers. They helped build the anti-cop narrative for I don’t know how many years.
So, to answer your question, their ratings are dying, their narrative is antithetical to what Americans believe. This is not a network interested in the American view or anymore, this is a curated propaganda machine to put out segments to other areas, whether it’s social media to be retweeted, that are specifically anti-American views.
This is not a network – I don't know how they get advertisers at this point, it's so embarrassing. They have producers that are being accused of alleged pedophilia. I mean, how do they – This is a distraction because they are in such sorry shape.
WATTERS: And so they don't have anything to talk about because it’s not a lot of good news. Are they just trying to put stuff out there for controversy do you think? Because that’s just stupid.
DANA PERINO: It's weird to program a segment just to try to get back at The Five.
[Laughter]
I mean that is a strange way to program. I would say, that the one thing about it is matching the mood. Right? I do the morning show now from 9:00 to 11:00 a., so I see a lot of the other morning network shows. And they are starting to lead with the story of the day. And guess what that is. It is crime. And when it’s being asked about at the White House and not just by Fox News.
The one thing that I feel the White House does that the President is not doing, you need to match the moment and the mood of the country. And if you are not, then you are going to get polls that show only a third of the country think that you care about the issues their focused on. And that’s what those polls were showing last week.
The other thing is that if you look at CNN’s own polling on immigration and crime and inflation – if the execs aren’t sharing CNN’s own polling with CNN’s media reporting team, they maybe should break down that wall because their own polling is showing that it's a problem.
WATTERS: And I'm assuming that these guys work out of New York City, right? That’s were they work out of.
GUTFELD: They don’t leave the apartment.
WATTERS: Do they see the local news? Do they read The Post of the Daily News, are they absorbing any of the actual crime that's happening in their own neighborhoods, do you think?
[Crosstalk]
HAROLD FORD: Denial does not wear well. And as I listen to them, I could understand if you are trying to make a point that crime – that some numbers are down and some numbers are up or trying to explain that maybe the way that this is being presented is being interpreted wrong. But they didn't do that. They didn't say crime is down here or people are looking at this the wrong way.
It strikes me as a group of people and this is not meant to malign CNN as much as those who literally try to present the crime as somehow not another bad thing. Where do you live? To your point. Are you in a neighborhood where you don't go out or there’s nothing happening or you have a security team around you?
That’s one thing. But if you live in a neighborhood which is most neighborhoods, fortunately, in New York City today, you’re watching where you are going. I don't take the subway any longer, I used to take the subway. I don’t take the subway because I'm concerned about my safety. I won't go near a subway stop with my kids because I don't want to be confronted and have to try to defend or do something that would put them in danger or myself in danger.
So, those who want to do this in stages like that or do presentations like that, have a reason for doing it. If your reason is to get back at someone or a show or a network, you’re not serving the people who watch your network and the people who are in danger every day and every night in our city, and for that matter across the country. Many of them who are probably watching that network.
(…)
