Fox News’ Rick Leventhal issued an on-air apology Thursday after a guest likened Hillary Clinton to “herpes.”
“She won’t go away. She’s like herpes,” said Anna Paulina, the Director of Hispanic Engagement for right-wing organization Turning Points USA.
Paulina’s comment came during a panel discussion on President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s call for another probe into Clinton’s use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state.
“OK, that’s news that we’re breaking here. Er, not appropriate,” Leventhal responded to Paulina’s dig. He had earlier said he was “amazed” Clinton’s emails were still headline news given “everything going on in the world.”
Paulina was removed from the segment, which also featured political analyst Doug Schoen, per multiple media reports.
“We are going to wrap this segment a little bit early because of the language that was used in the segment, and we apologize to our viewers for that,” Leventhal later told Schoen.
Fellow Fox News anchor Arthel Neville later repeated the conservative network’s apology:
“We want to reiterate that we do not condone the language that Anna Paulina just displayed here, and we apologize to Secretary Clinton for that. Fox News does not condone her sentiment. It’s Thanksgiving guys, lighten up. Come on!”
Check out the clip, edited for time, here: