‘Fox & Friends’ Pundits Label Rep. Steve Cohen’s William Barr Chicken Stunt Racist

Reuters / Clodagh Kilcoyne
Reuters / Clodagh Kilcoyne

It wasn’t hard to predict that Fox & Friends wouldn’t be amused by Rep. Steve Cohen’s Thursday stunt when he brought a big bucket of KFC and a plastic chicken to mock Attorney General William Barr’s no-show at the House Judiciary Committee.

What was harder to foresee, however, was pundits on Friday morning’s show inexplicably trying to label to stunt as racist.

Conservative YouTubers Diamond & Silk, who are also “Fox Nation personalities,” were brought on to talk about why Cohen stepped out of line by bringing a range of poultry-themed visual gags to the hearing to ridicule the attorney general’s cowardice.

“He’s racially insensitive, that’s what I think,” said Lynette Hardaway, with no further explanation. “Can you imagine if that was a Republican doing that to a Democrat? Just think about that for a moment.”

It was not clear why Cohen eating some chicken to mock Barr—who are both white men—could conceivably be considered racist.

Hardaway went on: “I want you all to understand, the reason why the attorney general is experiencing all of this slander is because the Democrats are afraid they’re getting caught up in the shenanigans.”

Elsewhere in the segment, host Brian Kilmeade backed Barr’s decision not to show up at the hearing, saying he spent “countless” hours the day before answering questions.

Read more at The Daily Beast.