(Screengrab via Fox News)
Conservative radio host Sid Rosenberg responded to backlash after Fox News apologized when he labeled New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani a “terrorist” during an appearance on Fox & Friends Weekend.
Speaking Monday on his WABC show, Rosenberg said he believed producers instructed co-host Griff Jenkins to push back as the interview unfolded, after Jenkins interrupted to caution the guest he was “over your skis” with the characterization.
“I believe that somebody went in Griff’s ear and said, ‘Refute, refute, refute!”” Rosenberg said. “So then he jumped in, and I didn’t really give him the opportunity to because once he started, I went at him right away.”
Rosenberg added that he later spoke with Jenkins privately and claimed the Fox host had no desire to deliver the network’s subsequent statement distancing itself from the remarks.
“I also know that it was Fox News who made Griff Jenkins apologize, not once, but twice,” Rosenberg said. “You know Griff didn’t want to do that, even if he disagreed, he didn’t want to do that, but they made him do it.”
Asked what the apology sounded like, Rosenberg recalled that it amounted to the network saying, “We had a guest on last hour who used the word terrorist, and we don’t believe that or something to that extent,” adding, “They were apologizing for that word.”
On Saturday’s broadcast, Jenkins addressed viewers after Rosenberg’s appearance and acknowledged the “heated feelings” related to anti-semitism but added that the word “terrorist” is one that “carries an extremely serious meaning.”
“It should not be used freely, and it’s important we distinguish between strong political criticism and factual allegations” Jenkins said.
Rosenberg had made the remarks while discussing an alleged stabbing attack in Manhattan, calling Mamdani a “terrorist” and “jihadist” before asserting that “blood is on your hands, Mayor Mamdani.”
During Monday’s radio interview, Rosenberg doubled down, insisting he stood by his characterization despite the backlash.
“I use the word terrorist, and people get very upset. I don’t care,” he said, arguing that he defines the term by ideology rather than acts of violence. He later repeated: “He is a goddamn terrorist.”
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