Fox News Host Mocks Canadian Forces
Source: The Canadian Press
Posted: 03/23/09 3:16PM
Filed Under: Canada
TV Personality Apologizes for Insulting Comments
OTTAWA - A Fox News host is apologizing to Canadians in the face of widespread outrage over comments he and his guests made on a late-night talk show.
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Red Eye host Greg Gutfeld says his comments “may have been misunderstood” and in no way were meant to disrespect “the brave men, women and families of the Canadian military.”
Fox News issued the Gutfeld statement just after the Canadian government demanded an apology for what it called the “despicable” and “disgusting” comments.
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The recent talk-show segment came just before four more Canadian soldiers were killed in Afghanistan and featured a group of pundits taking turns trashing Canada and its reliability as an ally.
They were spurred by comments from Canada's army chief that the military would need a year's hiatus to regroup and refurbish after its Kandahar mission ends in 2011.
Gutfeld said in the Fox News segment, widely aired on the Internet, that the Canadian military "wants to take a breather to do some yoga, paint landscapes, run on the beach in gorgeous white capri pants."
"Isn't this the perfect time to invade this ridiculous country?" he said. "They have no army."
The Canadian government was incensed by the talk-show segment.
Defence Minister Peter MacKay had requested an apology just before leaving for Canadian Forces Base Trenton, where he was to attend a repatriation ceremony with the families of the latest soldiers killed.
"It's crass, it's insensitive, it's in fact disgusting, given the timing," MacKay said.
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"There should be an apology - to the families in particular, and to the Canadian Forces and to Canada generally - given the sacrifice and the commitment that we've demonstrated in Afghanistan."
Canadian soldiers have been fighting in Afghanistan since 2001 and have spent the last four years in the country's most violent region.
Canada has lost 116 soldiers in Afghanistan.
A spokesman stressed that the Canadian government specifically wants an apology from the panelists who made the wisecracks - and not just from the Fox network at large.
"These are despicable, hurtful and ignorant comments," said Dan Dugas, a spokesman for MacKay.
"I think that so-called comedian should stare in the camera at his first opportunity and apologize to all of the families of people he's hurt with these despicable comments.
"And he's got to say, 'I was misinformed. I was ignorant of the truth and the contribution of the Canadian Forces to the war on terror, and I want to take it back. I know as a comedian that I can fail sometimes; I failed miserably at this so-called comedy.'
"And his panelists should say the same."
Canada says it will withdraw most of its 2,500 troops from Kandahar when its current combat mission expires in 2011.
News of that impending withdrawal, and the army chief's comments that the military would need a year's hiatus to regroup and refurbish, served as a launching pad for members of the Fox panel to mock Canada.
The five-minute Fox News segment aired last week on the late-night program "Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld" and it was later posted on YouTube.
The segment features American panelists suggesting Canadian soldiers need time off for "manicures and pedicures."
The item aired after Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie, the Canadian Forces Chief of Land Staff, said the military would need a one-year break from operations after the difficult mission in Afghanistan winds down.
"The Canadian military wants to take a breather to do some yoga, paint landscapes, run on the beach in gorgeous white capri pants," Gutfeld said with a sneer, adding: "Isn't this the perfect time to invade this ridiculous country? They have no army."
Another panelist, Doug Benson, said he didn't even know Canadian troops were in Afghanistan.
"I didn't even know they were in the war. I thought that's where you go if you don't want to fight - you go chill in Canada," he said.
The segment was posted online (http://www.youtube.com/watch?vtcJn5XlbSFk) under the title, "How to Lose Friends and Alienate Countries."
So far, more than 3,000 people have posted responses to the clip, which also makes fun of RCMP officers and their traditional red uniforms.
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