Fox’s Tomi Lahren Apologizes for ‘Wrong Choice of Words’ in Sexist Attack on Kamala Harris
Fox News commentator and ambitious glob of mayonnaise Tomi Lahren found herself in hot water during Wednesday night’s Democratic presidential debate for this bit of commentary suggesting that Sen. Kamala Harris slept her way to power in California politics:
Kamala did you fight for ideals or did you sleep your way to the top with Willie Brown?
— Tomi Lahren (@TomiLahren) August 1, 2019
Saying outrageous garbage and not apologizing is one quick route to fame for conservative commentators, which is why Lahren has indulged in it during her short career. Nonetheless, she seemed to go too far for even her fellow Fox News on-air talent:
I am curious to know what you think bringing a woman’s personal/sexual life into this accomplishes. Men do that to us enough as it is. I’m honestly asking. https://t.co/MgO0yMrAHT
— Kat Timpf (@KatTimpf) August 1, 2019
Do you have any idea how damaging this is to women who’ve actually been sexually harassed, assaulted or demeaned in the workplace? How much this weakens our own gender, regardless of partisanship. My goodness.
— Britt McHenry (@BrittMcHenry) August 1, 2019
Privately, anonymous Fox employees told The Daily Beast and CNN that they were embarrassed to work for the same outlet as Lahren.
By Thursday morning, Lahren had gotten the message that she had crossed a line:
I apologize for my comment on Kamala’s personal relationship. It was the wrong choice of words. There are many other things to take her to task for and I will stick to those.
— Tomi Lahren (@TomiLahren) August 1, 2019
“Wrong choice of words” is one way of putting it, though baseless and uncalled for would have perhaps been more appropriate.
Lahren has been making this unfounded talking point part of her regular attacks on Harris. But they have flown under the radar because she has been repeating it on Fox Nation, the network’s streaming service that has not attracted much attention outside of the conservative media bubble.
But as Media Matters pointed out, Lahren is not the only Fox commentator who has made similar attacks. The others have just been more “oblique:”
Joseph diGenova, a Republican lawyer who regularly appears on Fox, referred to Harris as “Willie Brown’s paramour” during a May 1 segment on the Fox prime-time show The Ingraham Angle. […]
Fox contributor Newt Gingrich argued that Harris “has to be very careful about Willie Brown” with regard to “her early career” on the January 28 edition of Fox & Friends. He added that she “may end up with some interesting things to answer.”
It seems pushback from the same Fox personalities who criticized Lahren will be needed to tamp down on this attack line across the network. Unless doing so hurts the ratings.
