The White House joined CNN in condemning Fox News radio host Mark Levin after he attacked the Jewish heritage of two CNN anchors.
On his radio show this week, Levin – who is also Jewish – described CNN anchors Wolf Blitzer and Jake Tapper as “self-hating Jews” while delivering a diatribe criticizing the network’s coverage of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
“Fox News not only joins those who stoke the fires of hate – Fox also pays them their salaries,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said Friday.
“Lying to insult the pain suffered by families in the Holocaust has absolutely no place in America. None,” Bates continued. “Unfortunately, this is not the first time in recent months that a Fox News host has made disgusting comments about the Holocaust.”
Levin also claimed that Blitzer’s parents were “not victims of the Holocaust in one way or another,” which is not true. According to CNN, Blitzer’s parents were affected by Nazi concentration camps and his grandparents were killed in the Holocaust.
CNN condemned the comments Thursday night as “completely uninformed, inappropriate and shameful” and said Levin’s “anti-Semitic rhetoric is dangerous, offensive and should be widely denounced.”
Levin responded to CNN’s criticism on his radio show Thursday, claiming the network was trying to “intimidate” and “silence” him. He said CNN was “one of the most pro-Hamas media outlets in the country.”
He also made similar pro-Hamas comments on MSNBC.
Levin hosts a weekday radio show and a weekend television talk show on Fox News Channel.
The Hill has reached out to Fox News for comment.
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