Fox News personality Greg Gutfeld’s statements that some Jews “had to be useful” in Nazi concentration camps have been condemned by the White House, calling them “an obscenity.” During a discussion on “The Five” on Florida’s new African American history curriculum is when Gutfeld made the remarks.
Ron DeSantis, the state’s governor, has advocated for new instructions for middle school pupils that suggest kids should be taught that slaves developed skills that, in some instances, could be applied for their benefit, a notion that has been widely criticized.
Gutfeld brought up the work of Jewish psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, who wrote about his experience of surviving Auschwitz and other Nazi camps, in a debate with co-host Jessica Tarlov, who equated the new history standards to the idea that Jews somehow benefited from their imprisonment during the Holocaust.
Gutfeld said Vik Frankl explains that you needed a particular set of talents to make it through a concentration camp. Being helpful was mandatory. Utility was the thing you used to keep yourself alive, he explained.
Tarlov sidestepped Gutfeld’s question, noting that the new Florida curriculum worried her since it would be taught to middle school students.
On Tuesday, White House spokesman Andrew Bates issued a statement calling Gutfeld’s remarks “horrid.” He said it was a dangerous and extreme lie that insulted the memory of the millions of Americans who suffered the evil of enslavement.
Gutfeld said there was nothing good about slavery; there was nothing good about the Holocaust.
Fox News is the most watched and trusted conservative news outlet in the country, but the White House has frequently attacked the network’s credibility for its coverage of traditional issues like inflation, the president’s age, and Hunter Biden’s legal troubles.
Fox News anchors have often been at the center of controversy for making insensitive comments. They have, however, come at a high price.
In April, Fox settled with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million for spreading false rumors that the company was involved in a scheme to steal the 2016 election for Donald J. Trump.
