Just after #goldenglobes, the most trending topic on Twitter this morning is #foxnewsfacts. Here’s why: on Fox News Saturday night longtime terrorism analyst Steven Emerson said this on Jeanine Pirro’s show:
There are actual cities like Birmingham that are totally muslim where nonmuslims just simply don’t go in. And parts of London, there are muslim religious police that actually beat and actually wound seriously anyone who doesn’t dress according to muslim, religious muslim attire.
It didn’t take long for residents of Birmingham, England’s second largest city, to Tweet other “facts” about their city, which the Telegraph documents here. The led to a whole slew of #foxnewsfacts spawned on Twitter.
And in the midst of all this, someone created a Twitter account called @FoxNewsPress: a satirical take down of the #foxnewsfacts. It only served to exacerbate the sarcasm of it all. The media relations arm of Fox News — the real one — assures TVNewser the account is fake.
Emerson, who is an unpaid though frequent guest on Fox, has apologized for his comments, saying, “I have clearly made a terrible error for which I am deeply sorry. My comments about Birmingham were totally in error.” He also intends to make a donation to a Birmingham charity and take out an ad in a Birmingham newspaper.
Also over the weekend, the chairman of FNC’s parent company Rupert Murdoch set himself up for a Twitter backlash with this tweet:
Maybe most Moslems peaceful, but until they recognize and destroy their growing jihadist cancer they must be held responsible. — Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) January 10, 2015
That touched off its own Twitter trend #rupertsfault, with comments like these:
I was born Christian. If that makes Rupert Murdoch my responsibility, I'll auto-excommunicate. http://t.co/Atw1wNk8UX
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 11, 2015
.@rupertmurdoch Rups can we get a step by step guide? How can my 60 year old parents in NC help destroy terrorist groups? Plz advise.
— Aziz Ansari (@azizansari) January 12, 2015