'Deeply Offensive And Wholly Inappropriate': Fox News Distances Itself From Ex-Trump Advisor's 'Cotton-Picking Mind' Slur

Elizabeth Preza
and
AlterNet
June 24, 2018Media

Fox News distanced itself from a comment made by former Donald Trump deputy campaign manager David Bossie, who told a black Democrat he was out of his “cotton-picking mind” during a Fox & Friends segment Sunday.

"David Bossie’s comments today were deeply offensive and wholly inappropriate,” a Fox News spokesperson said. “His remarks do not reflect the sentiments of FOX News and we do not in any way condone them.”

Bossie made the remark Sunday during an exchange with Democratic strategist Joel Payne. 

“'Cotton-picking mind?’” Payne replied. “Brother, let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. I've got some relatives who picked cotton and I’m not going to sit back and let you attack me on TV like that.”

Host Ed Henry briefly addressed the comment later in the show, telling viewers, “Fox News and this show, myself — we don’t agree with that particular phrase." 

"It was obviously offensive, but these debates get fiery,” Henry said. “That’s unfortunate. We like to have honest and spirited debates but not phrases like that, obviously. So I will just leave it at that.”

Bossie later apologized to Payne and Fox News in a statement he posted to Twitter.

“During a heated segment on Fox & Friends today, I should have chosen my words more carefully and never used the offensive phrase that I did,” he wrote. “I apologize to Joel Payne, Fox News and its viewers.”

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