A Fox News regular has carried on the network’s tradition of fundamentally misunderstanding the UK with a series of tweets sent in the aftermath of the suicide attack in Manchester last night.
Geraldo Rivera is a 73-year-old reporter, attorney and author from New York who often appears as a commentator on the channel.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning as details emerged of the attack that has killed at least 22 people, he tweeted:
The tweet caused outrage in the UK for two reasons, the first of which was beautifully summed up by one Glenn Kitson.
Additionally, Rivera also got his basic facts wrong - of the 12 people arrested in the wake of the Westminster attack, three were from Manchester.
All 12 people were later released without charge.
The attacker himself, Khalid Masood, lived in Kent.
As for the “16 ISIS recruits killed or caught”, it is not clear what Rivera is referring to.
There have been incidents of people being arrested at Manchester Airport on suspicion of terrorism but no terror suspects have been killed in the city.
Rivera’s attempt at being an expert on British affairs was met with scorn.
But this didn’t stop him adding to his commentary.
Fox News has a habit of propagating unchecked assertions about Britain and terrorism.
Most infamously, in 2015 “expert” Steven Emerson claimed with absolutely no evidence to back it up that Birmingham was a Muslim-only city.
More recently the network has successfully shown a right-wing, almost hysterical tone by regularly featuring Nigel Farage and Katie Hopkins.
In the wake of the Westminster terror attack Hopkins insisted that the British people were “cowed” and “afraid”, much to the consternation of many.
Hopkins landed herself in hot water this morning for calling for a “final solution” to the problem of terrorism, echoing the Nazi’s genocide of the Jews during World War 2.
The tweet was swiftly deleted and replaced with a less loaded phrase.
WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR:
- 22 people are dead and 59 injured in a suicide attack at a pop concert at Manchester Arena.
- Children are known to be amongst those killed.
- The explosion is being treated as a terrorist incident by police
- The lone male attacker, who died in the blast, was carrying an improvised explosive device which he detonated.
- It is not known if he was acting alone or as part of a larger network and has not been identified
- The blast took place in the foyer area as a concert by US star Ariana Grande finished at around 10:30pm.
- The identities of those killed or injured have not been confirmed, and no arrests have been made
- Footage from the arena show scenes of chaos and confusion.
- Theresa May will chair a meeting of the government’s emergency Cobra committee at 9am.
- All General Election campaigning has been suspended.
- Travel services in Manchester have been disrupted.
Greater Manchester Police has set up an emergency helpline to help those trying to find missing friends or relatives on 0161 856 9400.