The Imus in the Morning regular apologized 1/4 for saying Satanists who want to put a statue of Satan next to a Ten Commandments monument outside the Oklahoma state capitol should be shot. Specifically, on the 1/9 show simulcast on Fox Business Network, McGuirk said the Satanic Temple should be allowed to put up the planned 7-foot tall statue and then its members should be shot right next to it. The Ten Commandments statue has been the target of numerous groups who want it taken down.
“My comments were rooted in ignorance,” said McGuirk. “Satanists do not promote evil a la Charles Manson or Hitler. Regardless, I don’t want to see anybody shot, that’s the truth of the matter, so I do apologize unequivocally. I apologize for those comments and certainly, certainly withdraw them.”
The Satanic Temple’s legal counsel called McGuirk’s original comments reckless and an incitement to violence and demanded an apology from the Fox News Network.
“For that kind of thing to be advocated by Fox commentators is hypocritical and dangerous,” Satanic Temple spokesman Lucien Greaves told Reuters in an interview: “We were definitely shaken up by [his] comments. We are happy he made the apology. It’s our mission to open people’s minds to look past arbitrary labels and to open dialogue.”
