US Broadcaster Fox News today apologised for airing comments from an American terrorism expert who claimed that the British city of Birmingham is “a totally Muslim city” where non-Muslims simply “don’t go”.
Steven Emerson, an American terrorism commentator, made the claims as he spoke to the channel about the terror attacks in France last week.
Emerson retracted his claims after being contacted by media outlets.
Fox yesterday said it “deeply regrets” the errors and apologised to the people of Birmingham.
Issuing the apology presenter Jeanine Pirro, who was interviewing Emerson when he made the claims, said a guest had made “a series of factual errors that we wrongly let stand unchallenged and uncorrected.”
“The guest asserted that the city of Birmingham, England, is totally Muslim and that it is a place where non-Muslims don’t go,” she said.
“Both are incorrect.” She went on to say census data from 2011 indicated 22 per cent of the population of Birmingham identified themselves as Muslim.
“We could find nothing that indicated Birmingham is a so -called no-go zone.
“We deeply regret these errors and apologise to the people of Birmingham, our viewers and all who have been offended.”
Emerson’s comments led to a Twitter backlash with the hashtag Fox News Facts trending with people inventing humorous “facts”.
British Prime Minister David Cameron had also criticised Emerson dubbing him as a “complete idiot”.
“Frankly I choked on my porridge and thought it must be April Fool’s Day. This guy is clearly a complete idiot,” Cameron had said last week.
The apology also comes after Emerson attempted to make amends by donating 500 pounds to Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and telling Sky News listening back to his comments is like “water-boarding”, the Telegraph reported.
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