Brian Kilmeade says ‘just kill ‘em’ during discussion about mentally ill homeless people – UK Times

In a shocking moment on Fox News on the morning of September 10, Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade apparently advocated for the killing of mentally ill homeless people during a discussion.

He also suggested it could be done through “involuntary lethal injection.”

The remarks were made during a segment about the recent murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a light rail train in North Carolina by a homeless person with schizophrenia and an extensive criminal history.

Co-host Lawrence Jones said that while there is compassion regarding the mental health crisis, “we shouldn’t have to live in fear” while authorities figure out what to do.

“Put him in a mental institution, put him in a jail, and you guys figure it out. But people having to duck and dive on the trains and the buses, walking through the street, this is one case, but this is happening all across the country, and it’s not a money issue. They have given billions of dollars to mental health and the homeless population,” Jones said.

“A lot of them don’t want to take the programs, a lot of them don’t want to get the help that is necessary. You can’t give them a choice. Either you take the resources that we’re going to give you and — or you decide that you are going to be locked up in jail. That’s the way it has to be now,” he added.

Kilmeade interjected: “Or involuntary lethal injection… or something. Just kill ‘em.”

“Yeah,” Jones adds.

Fellow co-host Ainsley Earhardt then said: “Yeah, Brian, why did it have to get to this point?”

Kilmeade then said that people in cities with large homeless populations were voting for the wrong elected officials, telling people in North Carolina to “wake up.”

“You can’t put — keep putting these people in power,” he continued. “They woke up in Los Angeles, they got a stronger D.A. They woke up, and they got rid of Chesa Boudin in San Francisco. Hopefully, they will get rid of this terrible guy, Alvin Bragg, in New York.”

He then advocated for North Carolinians to vote for Republican Michael Whatley in the 2026 Senate race in the state, blaming Democratic Governor Roy Cooper for “these terrible laws.”

Cooper is leaving the governor’s mansion and running with the hope of replacing Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who has announced his retirement. In early polling, Cooper has a lead over Whatley, though neither has secured their party’s primary race yet, which takes place in March 2026.

“These are the people in North Carolina. Purple leaning red state. They got a big choice. On this element, it is political. Because it’s political, because politics has to change this,” said Kilmeade.

There was outrage online over the comments, with calls for Kilmeade to resign.

Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia tweeted: “America’s homeless population includes over a million children and tens of thousands of veterans, many of whom served in Iraq or Afghanistan.”

He continued: “Nobody deserves to be murdered by the government for mental illness or poverty. These Fox hosts are calling for mass murder—it’s sick.”

Author Shannon Watts posted: “[Brian Kilmeade] is advocating for extrajudicial killings on FOX, yet Matthew Dowd was fired by MSNBC [for] pointing out Charlie Kirk’s dangerous rhetoric. This moral asymmetry in the media and online is destroying democracy.”

Sarah Longwell, founder and publisher of the conservative site The Bulwark, wrote: “My god. What is happening?”

California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has received plenty of criticism for his own policies on homelessness, posted the Biblical quote Proverbs 21:13: “Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.”

The Independent has approached Fox News for comment.